These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

• Shinya Aoki vs. Viento Maligno – 3rd June at Shinjuku FACE (My #5 DDT MOTY)
• Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA vs. KANON, MAO & Viento Levante vs. Minoru Suzuki, To-y & Yuki Ueno – 27th June at Grand Hammer
• Daichi Satoh, Takeshi Masada & Yuya Koroku vs. Kazuma Sumi, Rukiya & Yuki Ishida – 5th July at Rembrandt Hotel Atsugi Grand Banquet Sagami
• Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA vs. To-y & Yuki Ueno – 21st June at Chunichi Hall
• Junta Miyawaki vs. Kazuki Hirata – 3rd June at Shinjuku FACE
• Shinya Aoki vs. Yuki Ueno – 28th June at Korakuen Hall
• Kaisei Takechi & Yuki Ueno vs. Kazuki Hirata & To-y – 31st May at Korakuen Hall
• Junta Miyawaki vs. Kazuki Hirata vs. Masami Inahata vs. Yuki Ueno – 16th July at Shinjuku FACE
• Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA vs. Daichi Satoh, Takeshi Masada & Yuya Koroku – 16th July at Shinjuku FACE
• Kazuki Hirata vs. Legendary Invisible Man Veterans – 15th July at Shinjuku FACE
• Antonio Honda & Danshoku Dino vs. Junta Miyawaki & Masami Inahata – 15th July at Shinjuku FACE
• Chris Brookes vs. Daisuke Sasaki vs. Kazuma Sumi vs. MAO vs. Shunma Katsumata – 15th July at Shinjuku FACE

26th May 2026
Ueno Park, Tokyo, Japan

Ah. My beloved Ueno Park shows. The perfect place for the legendary Yoshihiko to make their return, teaming with Danshoku Dieno against Chris Brookes & Yuki Ueno. This was a good chance for Dieno to relax and have fun before his big semi-final match days later in the King of DDT Tournament. This tag match had a twist which was the usual gimmick of drinking shots at random intervals throughout the match. Dieno, not a drinker, had to down half a glass of cola each time. Given that (close your eyes, kids) Yoshihiko is in fact not a living thing, Yuki Ishida at ringside drank the shots on his behalf. Chris, as I know from first hand experience, can hold his alcohol. I love when Chris interacts with inanimate objects. He turns into a psychopath, especially when a few shots have been had. He squeezed and contorted Yoshihiko’s rubbery face to the absolute screams of women in the audience. He also threw Yoshihiko into a trash can and just slowly walked away. He then sat next to some women who started fangirling. I see you, Chris. I see you.

The spot that went viral was Dieno bringing a ladder into the ring and then having the entire DDT roster hold the ladder up while he climbed it with Yoshihiko. This was mocking the discourse on Twitter where fans were complaining that New Japan officials were holding the ladder for Jun Kasai in the Best of the Super Juniors 33 Tournament, and Dieno got involved in the debate on Twitter, so this was absolutely his idea.

Later in the match, the litres of coke that Dieno drank meant he needed to take a toilet break. After drowning Yoshihiko in beer and throwing him away, Dieno just made it back in time for the count. Chris and Yuki then attacked Dieno’s stomach as much as they could in order to cause a shitty accident. My wife joined me half way through this match. She is a noted Dieno hater, only referring to him as “The Ass Man” (derogatory, in her mind). She assumed that we’d be getting Dieno removing his pants to reveal his bare ass and some brown sauce or something would be there. Alas, it was a clean ending to the match. Sort of. They forced some beer down Dieno’s throat (remember he doesn’t drink), he didn’t swallow (what a champ), ducked Chris and kissed Yuki, transferring the beer to Yuki’s mouth, Chris attacked, Dieno ducked again and then Chris kissed Yuki, transferring beer, and then Dieno hit Chris with a stunner (or something) and Chris spat out the beer into the air like Triple H does with the water fountain thing. Dieno then won with the Gedo clutch. Clean. My wife then started chanting, “This is boring!” in an American crowd-style cadence. I almost started googling divorce procedures.

Dieno’s opponent in the King of DDT semi-finals, MAO, also let his hair down by teaming with Kazuki Hirata in a ¥5,000 Spending Limit Weapons Deathmatch against Kazuma Sumi & Yuki Ishida. For reference, that’s around £25 or $30. MAO came out to the ring dressed in a wifebeater with a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He did all sorts of dumb shit (complimentary) in this match, including once again playing JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure with his playmate Hirata, which caused special guest Ryota Nakatsu to just slap them around the face telling them to cut their shit out, including beating the crap out of Hirata with the styrofoam bat that Hirata bought.

Rukiya attempted to further establish himself higher up the totem pole by taking on “Mr. DDT” HARASHIMA. This was quite a solid showing for Rukiya, but he is still missing something compared to the other D Generations wrestlers. What that is, I’m not quite sure.

Daichi Satoh and Junta Miyawaki almost kissed on the lips on this show. Antonio Honda and Takeshi Masada broke it up. Tune in next time to see if Satoh will become more gay with each year he spends in DDT. (The answer is yes. And I like it.)

Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Yuki Ishida defeat Akito & Hinata Kasai (7:59)

King Of DDT 2026 Semi Final:
Shinya Aoki defeats Minoru Suzuki (9:37)

King Of DDT 2026 Semi Final:
MAO defeats Danshoku Dino (11:54)

Jun Akiyama, Junta Miyawaki & Naomi Yoshimura defeat DAMNATION T.A (Hideki Okatani, Ilusion & MJ Paul) (9:05)

Kaisei Takechi & Yuki Ueno defeat Kazuki Hirata & To-y (0:01)
Kaisei Takechi & Yuki Ueno defeat Kazuki Hirata & To-y (9:15)

Fantomes Dramatic (Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA) defeat Strange Love Connection (KANON, Viento Maligno & Yukio Naya) (12:08)

KO-D Six Man Tag Team Title:
paleyouth (Daichi Satoh, Takeshi Masada & Yuya Koroku) (c) defeat NWA Jr. (Kazuma Sumi, Shunma Katsumata & Yuni) (14:56)

King Of DDT Final:
Shinya Aoki defeats MAO (17:20)

3rd June 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Junta Miyawaki vs. Kazuki Hirata, Shinya Aoki vs. Viento Maligno

© DDT

In the semi-main event, King of DDT 2026 winner Shinya Aoki faced Viento Maligno. The storyline here is that Viento is, of course, Keigo Nakamura. Nakamura and Aoki were tag team partners before Nakamura went on tour around a year prior, taking a long time away from DDT, touring the shindie Mexican wrestling scene. He returned under a mask wrestling a lucha style, and took quite some time to get accustomed to it. I wouldn’t call it the most successful gimmick change. But recently, Aoki has suspected that Viento is Nakamura. Everyone knows it is, but they play dumb, but Aoki actually thinks he’s onto something. He challenged him to a singles match so he could know for sure, as one of the last singles matches Nakamura had before departing to Mexico was a singles match against Aoki at Korakuen Hall. In this re-match, Aoki stretched Nakamura as much as he possibly could. The more he stretched him, the more he would be able to tell if it was his former tag team partner or not.

After submitting him, Aoki unmasked him. Strange Love Connection, Viento’s stable, rushed the ring to throw towels on his head, but then Aoki handed him the mic and Viento revealed that he was in fact Nakamura. He then cut an incredibly emotional promo about being unable to adapt in Mexico, about stumbling in his first match there and not knowing who he was anymore. He said that even now that he had returned he was terrified of himself. Wrestling scared him. He started crying and saying that the juniors were overtaking him and he achieved absolutely nothing going abroad. He said that he’s come back weak, either as Viento or Nakamura. He said it was pathetic. But he now had a supportive team in SLC and would continue to try to get stronger for them. Aoki then told him he can do whatever he wants to do, and asked him who he wants to ride with. Nakamura put the mask back on, making his choice. Yeah, I teared up. This is as fucking real as it gets. That’s how you use real life situations to draw emotion out of the crowd and get people rooting for you. I think we can all relate to feeling lost sometimes and not knowing why we are doing what we are doing. Backstage, Viento said that he had hit rock bottom, thought he got out of it, but immediately hit rock bottom again. He doesn’t even know how many rock bottoms there are. He said that he has nothing left to lose by staying as Viento. He said he had laid himself bare after the match and shown himself to Aoki and all the fans, and he will claw himself back up. I will definitely be rooting for him going forward. This was a great match followed by an incredible post-match segment. It very quickly turned from a comedy angle into one of the hardest-hitting segments I’ve seen in 2026 precisely because I knew everything Nakamura was saying was true. This is why it pays off to follow people’s journeys.

The actual main event of the show was FANTÔMES DRAMATIC (Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes, Hinata Kasai & HARASHIMA) against D-Generations (Daichi Satoh, To-y, Yuki Ishida & Yuni). Yes, these D Generations wrestlers are also in other units, there’s a few cross-over units in DDT, like Shunma Katsumata being in both NWA Jr. and 37KAMIINA. D Generations isn’t an official unit but here they wrestled as one. I was just happy to see Ishida and Yuni do things that weren’t things that trainees should be doing. This was another fun main event where once again Anton Honda was the star of the show. It’s happened a few times on the house show tours since the new Fandra unit was created and they’re always a lot of fun.

Junta Miyawaki continued his three-match trial, having already faced Antonio Honda, on this show he faced Kazuki Hirata. Hirata teased a suicide dive but then picked up his glasses and began to do his dance, but suddenly Junta joined him with his own set of glasses and Hirata just looked at him before removing his glasses, stopping the music and continuing the match. Junta hadn’t earned a dance with Hirata. Later, Hirata wanted to do his dance, but Junta beat him up and stopped the dance. Junta put the glasses on, but Hirata stopped the dance. They started jockeying for the glasses before Hirata tried to strike with his hidden blade, but Junta reversed it into Hirata’s neck. As Hirata was dying, he told Junta:

“Well done… look at the start of me. It takes me back to those days when you were a NOAH trainee, we ate so many meals together. Please, end it. Finish the story. Dance your heart out.”

Hirata then dropped to the floor dead. Junta was shocked. He slowly picked up Hirata’s dead body and flung him out of the ring and delivered a dance performance for the ages (it was intentionally awful). After the dance, Hirata came back to life and tried to roll Junta up while “Tokyo Go!” continued playing. Hirata went for an Axebomber but Junta held up the glasses which stopped Hirata in his tracks. Junta gently placed the glasses onto Hirata’s face, which of course meant that Hirata had to compulsively dance to the music which started playing. Junta immediately rolled Hirata up for the win. I think Junta is going to be just alright in DDT. After a very wooden performance in the “KING of Drunk” match on 9th April where he was finding his feet with the comedy, he nailed it out of the park here. It was announced that Danshoku Dieno would be his third and final challenge the week after at Shinjuku FACE. Okay, even you saw that one coming.

In the opener, Sanshiro Takagi declared that at 56-years-old, he was at his peak form. The DDT co-founder was so confident that he strongarmed GM Hisaya Imabayashi into turning it into an unlimited two-out-of-three falls match. Takagi scored the first pinfall after getting destroyed, holding on, and then catching a flash pin on Shunma Katsumata. He then declared the second fall would be Falls Count Anywhere. They brawled out of the venue, not returning until before the semi-main event and after the main event. It basically turned into a Weapons Rumble match as they used the Dramatic Dream bike and various weapons. Shunma jumped off a ladder and hit Takagi through a table, who then flash pinned Shunma once again for the win. After the match, Takagi called out MAO for a singles match at the 28th June Korakuen Hall.

10th June 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

The KO-D Ten-Man Tag Team Title was defended by DAMNATION T.A. (Daisuke Sasaki, Haruto Sakuraba, Hideki Okatani, Ilusion & MJ Paul) against Strange Love Connection (KANON, MAO, Viento Maligno, Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya). Sakuraba, part of the J-pop group S/TEAM BLOOD, was filling in for Demus, who was not on tour with DDT at that time. Sakuraba wrestles as a big man and is meant to be the “heavy” of the unit and there were a few spots where SLC struggled to take him down. Importantly, off the back of his crazy promo the week before, Viento was a strong babyface in this match, with constant calls from the audience for his name. He was also the person in the finishing stretch to try and stand up to Sakuraba, but he was eventually pinned by the J-pop star (I should note, not nearly as famous or popular as Kaisei Takechi). I thought Viento’s performance was great here, but DAMNATION T.A. retained their titles which meant that Ilusion was allowed to continue wearing all five belts for a bit longer. Iino was wearing a cap on his head because he has a stupid haircut as part of his tag team with Manabu Soya in NOAH. I was waiting the whole match for it to be revealed. It never was. That’s even funnier.

37KAMIINA (To-y & Yuki Ueno) faced Akito & Shinya Aoki in a preview tag match ahead of their KO-D Openweight Title match at Korakuen weeks later. As well as serving as a preview, Akito, someone with a significant backstage role with booking and managing events, seemingly wanted to showcase To-y with several spots served to get the crowd behind To-y so that they could scream “To-y!” We already know that DDT sees To-y as a significant part of its future.

FANTÔMES DRAMATIC (Antonio Honda & Chris Brookes) faced Naomi Yoshimura & Tomomitsu Matsunaga and Rukiya & Yuki Ishida in a three-way tag team. Anton did a live performance of his theme song, but tripped while entering the ring, launching the Gongitsune routine. From there on out it was a standard, enjoyable Anton match. Surprisingly, Ishida got the win. Are Ishida and Rukiya on their way to a tag title challenge? Nah. Surely not.

paleyouth (Daichi Satoh, Takeshi Masada & Yuya Koroku) faced Kazuki Hirata, Kumadori & Shunma Katsumata. Before the match, Shunma immediately rolled up Hirata to win his DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Title. During the match, since Kumadori didn’t want to be upstaged by Kaisei Takechi on the Korakuen Hall show, Kumadori started a dance-off here with “Tokyo Go!” showcasing his own professional dance skills. Of course, in the background Shunma and Hirata were still arguing over the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Title and Hirata rolled up Shunma, his own teammate, to regain his title. Still during the dance, Koroku rolled up Hirata for the win and became the new DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion.

Junta Miyawaki faced his final trial, after having matches against Antonio Honda and Kazuki Hirata, it was now time for him to face Danshoku Dieno. This went exactly as you’d expect. Junta was humped. A lot. Junta was kissed for a long three-count, losing a match via submission.

13th June 2026
Yokohama Radiant Hall, Kanagawa, Japan

At the Yokohama house show, FANTÔMES DRAMATIC (Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA) faced 37KAMIINA (Shunma Katsumata & To-y) in a preview match, as Yuki Ueno and Toy were due to challenge Fandra for their KO-D Tag Team Title on 21st June in Nagoya. The best part of this match was Chris destroying To-y’s chest with chops to loud shrieks of “To-y” from the audience. He really is super over and deserves all of these main event spots. HARASHIMA won with Somato on Shunma.

KO-D Openweight Champion Yuki Ueno was busy himself in a different match, teaming with Naomi Yoshimura and Rukiya against his next challenger, Junta Miyawaki and Yuki Ishida. Naomi and Ishida were teammates in Harimao before it disbanded at Higuchi’s retirement show on 5th April, so there were some fun spots of Ishida trying his best against Naomi but just getting bullied. After some awesome grappling between Aoki and Ueno, Aoki picked up the first win in the previews as Rukiya showed a bit too much aggression and left himself exposed, allowing Aoki to capitalise and win by pinning him down with a double wrist-lock. Rukiya was heated and kept trying to attack Aoki after the match, who no-sold everything. This was a cool start to their previews.

In a special singles match between Antonio Honda and Jun Akiyama, one DDT superfan kept on yelling for “Anton!” After the initial exchange where Jun destroyed Anton, Anton went to the fan to ask for help, who was very enthusiastic in giving Anton advice. This was the same fan I had sat next to on the 4th May Korakuen Hall show and who I see regularly on the front row of a lot of house shows that I watch, so it was a full-circle moment for me and I’m happy he got this moment. I’m sure Anton is very familiar with him. Anton still lost.

Following his promo on 3rd June, Viento Maligno had changed his name to Viento Levante, essentially dispelling the “evil” within himself and adopting a more optimistic, uplifting outlook, on the rise just like the Sun in the East. He would fail in his first match, unfortunately.

KO-D Six Man Tag Team Champions paleyouth (Daichi Satoh, Takeshi Masada & Yuya Koroku) were thrown into the “Match 2” zone against “Match 2” regulars Danshoku Dieno, Kazuki Hirata and…KANON? Sure, why not. They came out very cagey, peeking out of the curtain to make sure it was safe. Koroku had just stolen (won) Hirata’s DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Title on the previous show and Hirata was looking for revenge and trying to recapture the 24/7 title. It appears that Koroku should have been worrying about Dieno instead, who humped Koroku in exotic positions to the excited shrieks of the 80% women audience. Masada just covered his, and Daichi’s, eyes. Daichi is only 17, after all. This match was basically everyone taking turns to get their face shoved in Dieno’s ass. After the match, KANON and Dieno both tried to win the title but failed. Masada then put his fingers down Koroku’s throat and won the title before running away. Later in the show, Koroku won back the title but then Evil Hirata made an appearance (with a lot of people noting how much he looks like NOAH’s HAYATA, and he also uses the same contact lenses). Evil Hirata uses a hammer. It was the same way he had taken the title from Pom Harajuku in the first place on 7th June. Well, he smashed Koroku over the head and won the title.

21st June 2026
Chuinichi Hall, Aichi, Japan
Recommended Match: Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA vs. To-y & Yuki Ueno

© DDT

DDT held a rare three title matches on a show in Nagoya. I think it’s pretty cool to have title matches on regional shows outside of Tokyo, and it’s something other promotions of a similar size should take note of, like STARDOM, who still mostly concentrate their title matches in Tokyo. It’s a great way to build up regional audiences and hook them, as at least some will be converted into big enough fans to travel in for the bigger Tokyo shows in a Sumo Hall, or dare I say, a Tokyo Dome.

In the main event, FANTÔMES DRAMATIC (Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA) defended their KO-D Tag Team Title against 37KAMIINA (To-y & Yuki Ueno). 37KAMIINA are the cool kids of DDT and To-y, dubbing himself the Prince of Nagoya, has been strongly pushed for quite some time, so this was really a clash of the titans in the sense that either team could win. It was quite a massive match for a non-Korakuen Hall show. Once this match started, I did immediately understand why they booked it. This match was a To-y showcase. The champions tried their best to keep To-y down, including with Chris’s signature stiff chops, to a chorus of “To-y” calls from the audience. They went one step further and had both Chris and HARASHIMA team up on To-y 2v1 to chop the crap out of him. HARASHIMA finished To-y off with the springboard Somato. This was a pretty good defence for the champions and anything aimed at keeping To-y’s momentum going is good. In the post-match, paleyouth came to challenge, setting up a KO-D Six Man Tag Team Title match on 16th July at Shinjuku FACE and a KO-D Tag Title match (sans Daichi) on 26th July at Korakuen Hall. Am I too greedy if I ask for paleyouth to win both matches? Of course they won’t since Fandra already challenged with Hinata not long ago, so now Anton was replacing Hinata meaning a surefire victory. I do have hope that paleyouth would win the tag titles but then if they play swapsies, Daichi stops being a champion which would make me sad.

The second title match on the show was a Hardcore “I Quit” match for the DDT Extreme Title, with Hideki Okatani defending against Junta Miyawaki. While I wasn’t much into the start of this match, the bumps these guys took got crazier and crazier as the match went on. The finish was Okatani completely braining Junta, first with a table, then a chair, and finally his cane stick. Junta finally quit. He was hitting them with full force. CTE did briefly come into my thoughts. I did feel like this could’ve just been a usual hardcore match and the stipulation didn’t add anything at all. In fact, Junta just kinda looked even more of a dork than he usually does when he lay down breathing with enough consciousness to say “I quit” but not enough to keep fighting. In an “I Quit” match it works better if the finish is the person panicking or terrified of something. Junta already received the damage, then thought about it for like twenty seconds and then quit. It was a bit weird.

The other title match on the show was DAMNATION T.A. (Daisuke Sasaki, Ilusion & MJ Paul) facing paleyouth (Daichi Satoh, Takeshi Masada & Yuya Koroku) for the KO-D Six Man Tag Team Titles. This was a match where each and every member of paleyouth got a chance to shine, but on the other side, Ilusion shone the brightest. This was one of his best performances in ages as he re-established why he is one of the best characters in DDT. He is extremely good at getting beaten up and still remaining relatively over. Ilusion tried to win by wrapping himself up with the KO-D Six Man Tag Team belts, an antic he has done with his own KO-D Ten Men Tag Team Title belts regularly, before attempting a senton, but he missed. The finish was Masada launching Ilusion into Koroku’s waistlock, who then swung Ilusion backwards with a sick bridging German suplex. They did have to repeat the Masada launching part because Koroku wasn’t ready to catch him the first time, but we’ll allow it, it was still sick.

In a ten-man tag match, DHAOS (literally all of its modern-day comedy legends, the name is the initial of all its members) (Antonio Honda, Danshoku Dino, Kazuki Hirata, Super Sasadango Machine & Toru Owashi) took on a full-strength Strange Love Connection (KANON, MAO, Viento Levante, Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya). This was actually the sixth and final match in a six-match series that I did not realise was taking place. While I generally knew what to expect, some spots threw me off. I was not expecting Anton to mimic Iino’s “I am the Apex” elbow (a homage to the People’s Elbow) but end up tripping by running over Iino to begin the Gongitsune routine. Another one was when Hirata was running the ropes to axebomber Yukio Naya, and Naya just scared him which sent Hirata flying while doing a back bump. It looked hilarious in real-time. Hirata really is one of the greatest comedy wrestlers in history. After the match, SLC unmasked SSM, and then DHAOS chased SLC off. But then DHAOS, well DHAO, attacked SSM for losing the match for them. But then SLC came back to chase DHAO off, and then offered him a spot in SLC, but only when they are in Nagoya. SSM agreed. Well, that was a trip.

Masami Inahata & Naomi Yoshimura faced Jun Akiyama & Rukiya. I remember a few months ago that Rukiya and Naomi had some crazy brawling where Rukiya would try his best to make Naomi sell, who was basically a terminator. We did get a bit of a callback to those interactions. The most surprising thing about this match was Rukiya taking the win, beating Masami. I know that Masami is a new guy, but I did genuinely think he was being positioned near the top of the D Generations gang, but it would appear that he is being slotted in at the bottom (just above Yuki Ishida & Yuni).

Speaking of which, O-MENZ dancer and rapper Kumadori paired up with Shunma Katsumata to take on two of the wrestlers lowest on the totempole in Yuki Ishida & Yuni. Kumadori was wearing new gear (I think) and obviously won, winning with a corkscrew senton (which missed so much that it basically turned into a corkscrew elbow, which may have been even cooler).

Akito beat rookie Hinata Kasai in the opener. The crowd really got behind Hinata, and his popularity has been slowly growing in the past few months.

27th June 2026
Grand Hammer, Shimbashi, Tokyo, Japan

© DDT

I don’t feel like writing a lot for this, but I recommended a match here so I wanted to put the show here. DDT shows out in a shopping centre or in restaurants are awesome. This one was in a restaurant in Shimbashi in front of a 90%+ woman audience screaming their heads off for their favourite wrestlers. Seriously, just watch the main event. There was constant noise throughout the entire match because each pair was doing their own crazy stuff just to pop the fans around them in this cramped restaurant. It was so great. The main event was
FANTÔMES DRAMATIC (Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA) against Strange Love Connection (KANON, MAO & Viento Levante) and Minoru Suzuki & 37KAMIINA (To-y & Yuki Ueno).

I also enjoyed the opener a lot, because it was my boys paleyouth (Daichi Satoh, Takeshi Masada & Yuya Koroku) against Masami Inahata, Yuki Ishida & Yukio Naya. Masami looks like he’s having the absolute time of his life in DDT. Bet he’s glad he chose NOAH over DDT unlike his brother, Katsumi.

Junta Miyawaki & Viento Levante defeat Akito & Miles Karu (7:26)

Yuki Ishida & Yukio Naya defeat Naomi Yoshimura & Soma Takao (7:10)

Six Man Tag Team Match
Jun Akiyama, Masami Inahata & Rukiya defeat Danshoku Dino, Kazuki Hirata & Minoru Suzuki (0:09)

Hirata Must Lose Three Times Six Man Tag Team:
Jun Akiyama, Masami Inahata & Rukiya defeat Danshoku Dino, Kazuki Hirata & Minoru Suzuki (8:05)
– Akiyama pins Hirata (0:18)
– Inahata submits Hirata (0:43)
– Rukiya submits Hirata (8:05)

Strange Love Connection (KANON & Yuki Iino) defeat The 37KAMIINA (Shunma Katsumata & To-y) (7:49)

DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Title:
KIMIHIRO defeats Shuma Katsumata (c)

paleyouth (Daichi Satoh, Takeshi Masada & Yuya Koroku) defeat Kazuma Sumi, Kumadori & Yuni (9:44)

No Referee Match:
MAO defeats Sanshiro Takagi (12:31)

DAMNATION T.A (Daisuke Sasaki, Hideki Okatani, Ilusion & MJ Paul) defeat Fantomes Dramatic (Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes, HARASHIMA & Hinata Kasai) (10:24)

KO-D Openweight Title:
Yuki Ueno (c) defeats Shinya Aoki (21:48)

15th July 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

In the main event, Shunma Katsumata won the first of two “Right to Challenge Anywhere, Anytime” wristbands by winning the “Cool Summer King of DRUNK” match between him, Chris Brookes, Daisuke Sasaki, Kazuma Sumi and MAO. I’ve written about King of Drunk a lot. If you like that stipulation, you’ll like this match.

The Invisible Man Rumble is DDT’s recurring comedy match concept in which Kazuki Hirata wrestles opponents only he can see. These matches are just awesome because they require the crowd to be in on the joke to really make the most of them. For example, one of the entrants was To-y, so his music played, and the spotlight followed Invisible To-y to the ring, and then, Hirata would wrestle as if To-y’s signature spots were being done, and the crowd reacted the way they would to each of those spots. One amazing moment was when the Hirata took a back bump after watching Invisible To-y run the ropes at 100mph, after which is when To-y usually starts ramping up chants so he can climb the turnbuckle, so the crowd spontaneously started chanting “To-y!” Then, Hirata dodged out of the way of To-y’s diving splash, another spot that regularly happens. It was just awesome.

paleyouth (Daichi Satoh, Takeshi Masada & Yuya Koroku) faced Fandra (HARASHIMA & Hinata Kasai) and Yuki Ishida in a preview match ahead of the KO-D Six Man Title match on the next day. They were all wearing pantyhose on their heads in a reference that my newhead DDT brain could not figure out, but it looked hilarious.

Masami Inahata showed why DDT picked the best brother (Katsumi went to NOAH) as he dressed up in Danshoku Dieno costumes and kissed members of the audience, humped Junta Miyawaki and more, in a tag match on the undercard. Masami has the DDT comedy-style already down and he’s also an incredible wrestler. DDT really lucked out picking him up as he left JTO. He’s still only 21.

16th July 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

In the main event, Fandra (Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA) challenged paleyouth (Daichi Satoh, Takeshi Masada & Yuya Koroku) for their KO-D Six-Man Tag Team Title in a Falls Count Anywhere match. There was some history here, as Chris immediately threw Masada’s Bunbun mascot into the crowd, following their time together in Schadenfreude International, and HARASHIMA & Daichi leathered each other with kicks, going back to their King of DDT Opening Round match (they kicked each other right next to me in Korakuen Hall). Chris also brought back the rubberband spot from the Schadenfreude days for the first time since creating Fandra, after having said during a Meet & Greet I was at that he thought it was lame to keep doing the same things when starting a new faction. Chris also fought with Koroku, who he beat in a KO-D Openweight Title match in 2025 and is someone he also thinks is lame.

The second “Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere” wristband went to Masami Inahata in a Blindfold & Bra four-way match. The stipulation is exactly as it suggests. The participants were Junta Miyawaki, Kazuki Hirata, Masami Inahata and KO-D Openweight Champion Yuki Ueno. Then they all took their entrance gear off to reveal their bras, the 90% girly crowd screamed their heads off. It was awesome. I think Masami got the most shrieks by far. If you take off someone else’s bra (or pin them), you win the match. Watching them bumbling about was hilarious. During the match, Ueno found Hirata and felt relieved. He instantly put him into a Boston crab, knowing it was Hirata’s weakness and it was his route to victory. Hirata was saved by Masami doing a diving senton onto no one, scaring Ueno and breaking the hold. All four wrestlers were very good at undoing the bras of others while blindfolded. Just saying. Ueno undid Masami’s bra instantly at one point, but not all the way off. After some struggle between the two, Masami removed Ueno’s bra cleanly to win the blue armband. Awesome stuff.

Danshoku Dieno, Hinata Kasai, Jun Akiyama, Kaisei Takechi, KANON, MAO, Naomi Yoshimura and Rukiya took part in the “Ghost Story Shin-Numabukuro Royal”. It’s like a spooky movie parody they do at Beer Garden shows every now and again. This one was a Hunger Games style match where GM Hisaya Imabayashi oversaw proceedings. Multiple people, including MAO and Rukiya sacrificed themselves by jumping off the cliff (apron) and suiciding (eliminating themselves from the match), ensuring that Takechi could live on and continue further. Takechi ended up the sole survivor. Imabayashi told the story of a boy that was abandoned, which ended up being Takechi. Imabayashi tried to kill Takechi so he pointed his finger at Takechi in an Avada Kedavra style attack, but Takechi dodged, so Imabayashi ended up killing Dieno instead. Takechi revealed he also had the power to Avada Kedavra, and he was doing it in memory of Makoto Oishi, his mentor, so Takechi fired back with his own Avada Kedavra but Imabayashi dodged so it hit Rukiya. This kept continuing until both accidentally re-murdered all participants. When it was finally those two left, they had an Avada Kedavra off, with both killing each other. Takechi died in KANON’s arms.

Viento Levante picked up a huge win, submitting MJ Paul in a DAMNATION T.A. vs. Strange Love Connection tag match.

8th June 2026
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

© Kiki0222ki

I wasn’t intending on writing much for this, but thought it was worth noting something. (Later Edit: The writer then proceeds to write a full review because they have no self-control.) This show was the second annual showcase between New Japan and DDT, a series that started off in 2025. It was essentially first put together as a way to signify their new working relationship in the wake of Hiroshi Tanahashi becoming President and wanting to draw to line under their historic rivalry, caused by his controversial comments about DDT when HARASHIMA was its ace in 2015. DDT & HARASHIMA found the comments insulting and the relationship was rocky over the subsequent decade. Backstage after the 2025 show, Tanahashi said that he was very happy he could have that show prior to his retirement, and felt remorse over the comments he made in 2015. Tanahashi added that he felt he has grown during his time as a president. So the 2025 show effectively buried the hatchet between the two companies and reset the relationship. After a year of working together with various talent exchanges, this show was more of a celebration than a reunion. The format was a six-on-six elimination series with DDT (Super Sasadango Machine, MAO, Kazuki Hirata, Akito, Antonio Honda & Danshoku Dieno) against NJPW (Toru Yano, El Desperado, Ryusuke Taguchi, El Desperado, KUSHIDA & Hirooki Goto). This show was essentially one continuous performance, with promos connecting each match to each other and one consistent narrative throughout the whole show. It was like watching a play with some matches rather than a wrestling show with disparate matches.

There were several interesting dynamics on this show, with some DDT wrestlers far more popular with the Korakuen Hall crowd than the New Japan wrestlers. At the start of the show, Yuki Ueno got far more cheers than Tanahashi himself, which immediately told me that the DDT fans showed up for their promotion. Yano got more chants than Super Sasadango Machine (who isn’t really a DDT pure guy) and then DDT rookie Hinata Kasai got deafening chants against New Japan Young Lion Tatsuya Matsumoto ahead of their impromptu match to open the show. Hinata and Matsumoto went to a time-limit draw before an extra 5 minutes was added. In the second match, Hinata tapped out to a New Japan Young Lion staple, the Boston crab. But really, Hinata won the match but being so much more over than Matsumoto (smirk emoji).

The two GMs (Toru Yano & Super Sanadango Machine) signed a contract and the show kicked off in earnest. For the first bout between Toru Yano and SSM, SSM appeared on screen dressed in drag using his female alter ego. He then explained that the contracts they signed had small print where DDT would decide the rules for every single match, and that he knew he couldn’t beat New Japan with a team full of idiot DDT wrestlers. He unveiled a banner in the arena which revealed that New Japan would be going on its “DDT Hell Tour”. SSM announced the first match would be a DDT classic, the “One Fluorescent Light Tube Match”, where the person who breaks the light tube loses the match. The teams were Akito & MAO for DDT against El Desperado & KUSHIDA. I mean, if we weren’t already sure of how many DDT fans had made their way to Korakuen Hall, Akito got competing chants with Despe of all people. This wasn’t as good as the famous VENY vs. Akito one light tube match, but it was still a lot of fun. The finish was actually really creative. It was MAO and Despe on top of the turnbuckle and they agreed to back bump into the light tube together, but MAO tricked Despe and Despe went through it. This was a throwback to their BOSJ match in 2025 (and maybe other instances I’m not aware of?) where MAO and Despe went through a plastic box together and people got mad that they were making a mockery of the BOSJ tournament. Anyway, this meant Despe & KUSHIDA were eliminated.

Next up was a “Blindfold, Hide Your Ass” match. If you get your bare ass exposed, you lose. And you start off blindfolded. So of course, Ryusuke Taguchi & YOH came out to face Akito & MAO. YOH does queer-baiting for a living with wrestling as his side job, and Taguchi is New Japan’s Danshoku Dieno. They basically came out in sex costumes. I don’t want to describe them. It was a bunch of half-naked blind guys stumbling about the ring. MAO lost, eliminating Akito & MAO.

Afterwards, Antonio Honda & Kazuki Hirata came out to represent DDT. Guess what match it was. A bloody Submissions Only match. Honda and Hirata. Really DDT? You set the rules, and you threw Hirata out there for a Submissions Only match? Christ almighty. This match involved YOH & Taguchi trying to submit Honda & Hirata by shoving their junk in their face as they were still wearing the gimpish outfits. They got the upper hand and Honda ordered Hirata to put the Paradise Lock on them to make them submit. Hirata had no idea how, so they went to get Milano AT Collection from the commentary desk to help teach them (he’s a former New Japan talent who helps as a coach in STARDOM). Honda then tripped up getting back in the ring, did his Gongitsune routine, chaos broke out. They all did the “Tokyo Go!” dance together, including Milano (he acted shy at first but then did it perfectly, I love that gimmick). It ended up with Taguchi and Honda accidentally hitting Milano with their Fox attacks. He got mad and put them both in the Paradise Lock so both teams tapped out and all four were eliminated.

That left just Super Sasadango Machine & Danshoku Dieno (who had not formally accepted yet) and Toru Yano & Hirooki Goto. SSM did his signature Powerpoint Presentation but his computer had to reboot during the presentation. He tried to get Tanahashi to stall while the laptop rebooted but it didn’t work so SSM had to give a presentation off the top of the dome. He announced that the next match would be a “If Your Junior Laughs at You, You Lose ~ Junior Role Model Deathmatch”. The juniors were Rukiya and Tatsuya Mastsumoto, and the seniors were SSM & the ever-stoic Goto. SSM left at one point and returned more jacked than ever. It was KANON wearing SSM’s mask and gear. SSM had to swap back in. SSM lost as he tapped out to Goto before Goto hit the GTR, which made Rukiya burst out laughing and lose SSM his final point. SSM was eliminated. With his last breaths, he said “Goto, just because you beat me, don’t think that you’ve beaten DDT…” then he died and Dieno’s music started playing. The match had the usual Dieno-Taguchi ass stuff. It was ruled a double no-contest when there were a lot of run-ins straight into Dieno and Taguchi’s ass.

After the match, when Yano thought he was the only one remaining, SSM admitted that he was never a member of Team DDT because he’s not contracted to DDT, meaning they had one person left. DDT’s co-founder Sanshiro Takagi came out and SSM announced it would be a Weapon Rumble match, where basically each competitor can use a weapon after a certain amount of time, and they are brought to the ring one at a time. The big news here is that Konosuke Takeshita came out as one of Takagi’s weapons. The pop here was massive when he actually came out of the curtain and confirmed it was actually him (you never know in Japanese comedy matches). Takeshita was about to put Yano away with the Raging Fire. The timer for the next weapon counted down. It revealed “Konosuke Takeshita”, since Takeshita is dual-contracted to DDT and New Japan. This was hilarious. Takeshita received huge chants and started beating up Takagi.

© hal_ya

Takagi & Yano started arguing. SSM suggested that they sort something out. Tanahashi was brought to the ring to settle the dispute. SSM turned to Takeshita and went “Isn’t it tiring being a part of 3 promotions? It caused all these problems” as a way to convince him to just choose one. Takeshita replied with “Honestly, kinda, yes.” Everyone, including Tanahashi, made their pitches for Takeshita to join them. Tanahashi was quite good at emotional blackmail, calling back to their Sumo Hall match together in 2014. SSM handed Takeshita two “Final Roses” The Bachelor-style, and Takeshita would give the rose to the promotion that he chose. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Sanshiro Takagi stood side by side, waiting for Takeshita’s decision. Takeshita said that New Japan gave him dreams as a child, but DDT helped those dreams come true. He went on to say that he was tired of being an outsider in New Japan and wanted to be a part of the roster and help fight off people from the inside. He said he wanted to help DDT hold its first Tokyo Dome show. Then, he tried to choose both, Yano and SSM interrupted and were both furious. They turned it into a 2vs1 handicap against Takeshita. They both lost in 2 minutes.

After the match, Takeshita gave a long powerpoint presentation about why he belongs to three promotions. There was a lot here. He started off with a background about himself, and got a pop for announcing that he beat the Rainmaker Okada for his AEW International Title. He also got a pop for saying that he was a part of Gold’s Gym, Anytime Fitness and Clutch Fitness in the US so as well as being triple-contracted, he’s also a part of three gyms in the US. He finished off the intro by saying he was the world’s busiest pro wrestling and he got a pop for that too.

He explained why he is a triple-contracted wrestler, and that is because he truly loves wrestling so much and wants to make it global. He said that he regrets not making last year’s NJPW x DDT crossover more than anything and so made sure this year wasn’t the same. There was a slide of a painting where he is huddled over in bed watching the show on his phone, which the crowd laughed at. He said that despite the world being full of entertainment, from movies to games, anime, comedy and sport, all of which he consumes, pro wrestling was still the most fun to him. He loves wrestling so much that he watches every single promotion and match so he wanted to put together a league of 365 wrestlers so that there could be a tournament that runs for a whole calendar year. This was satire, if it wasn’t obvious. Secondly, he wants new rules in wrestling. He thinks that issues are never solved through violence, so they need a new scoring system to determine who wins a match like an AI judging and scoring system because people love scoring systems (again, this was certainly satire, before you start thinking Takeshita has turned heel). Finally, the serious point, he wanted to unify the entire pro wrestling world. He said that was the main reason he lived in America and fights across the world. He wants to become the #1 wrestler in the world so he can bring together promotions to put on collaborative shows. He said that he hears the complaints about not being on regional tours, but he wants people to give him some time to keep fighting on the front line, the cutting edge (America, apparently), so that he can build the world he dreams of. This was basically a long promo from Takeshita to communicate to all of the fans of DDT, New Japan and other promotions about why he does what he does. That’s my fuckin’ wrestler right there.

Takagi got mad (I don’t know why, maybe because the Weapon Rumble was technically a no-contest) and brought out the entire DDT roster to put a beating on Yano & SSM. They all turned on Takagi with the New Japan roster joining them. He threatened to retain all of the DDT roster from scratch. They all piled on him and Takagi got on his knees and knew his fate. He turned to Takeshita and said “Takeshita, reach the top of the world. Make Japanese pro-wrestling even bigger than before!” Then, Takeshita dealt the final blow and hit him with a stunner (Takagi’s finisher) for the win.

After the closing promo, Akito and SSM rushed backstage because they forgot something. The last weapon in the Weapon Rumble. They hurried backstage and opened a door that contained the fifth weapon. It was NOAH’s Kenoh. The crowd popped big. He was incredibly pissed off, as he usually is. And with that gag, the show was over. This was a really fun show from top to bottom, but it’s quite hard to follow without translations side-by-side. You can still get what’s going on, but you miss a lot of the nuance and jokes.

2nd July 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Daisuke Sasaki held the fourth iteration of his produce show at Shinjuku FACE. Given that I wrote a longer review about the third one in Korakuen Hall on 2nd October yet remember none of it, I will keep this one briefer. The shows are mostly forgettable, aside from when Dick Togo comes in to wrestle Sasaki, which did not happen on neither the last nor this one. So maybe that explains my detachment. The main event was Sasaki himself facing Keisuke Ishiii and Shuji Ishikawa in a three-way for the O-40 Title. Shuji was pretty awesome just turning it into basically a handicap match. Sasaki took his shirt off in this match, which he didn’t even do for the October show. Okay, I said I don’t remember any of it, I only remember the things I didn’t like. Also it was harder to care about him taking his shirt off considering I saw him do it in the BOSJ and he went on to lose the match in a very unspectacular fashion. Anyway, Sasaki won this match by choking out Keisuke.

The Fake Brahman Army (Yuki Ueno, Yuki Iino & Yuki Ishida) faced the Mataro Army (Takayuki Ueki, Takeshi Masada & Trans Am Hiroshi with Suzuki Mataro). Basically, the triple Yuki team were cosplaying as the Brahman Bros. It was wild. We have a longstanding policy in this newsletter to not write reviews of Brahman Bros because they need to be seen to be believed. That also applies to matches where wrestlers are cosplaying them. Thank you for your understanding.

In what was a very interesting match, Ryunosuke Nagai defeated MJ Paul in a singles match. Not only is Nagai not a DDT talent, but he’s also a rookie that debuted in December 2025 in COMBO against Go Shiozaki. It’s not that MJ Paul is protected, but he is at least treated as the heavy of DAMNATION T.A. and clean losses do mean something. The fact they gave it to an unsigned rookie was mindblowing to me, but in a good way, given that Nagai is a very solid rookie and performed well in this match. They allowed him to get an avalanche powerbomb and a spear on MJ Paul for the win. Not only that I would be happy to see him come in for a few dates as a DAMNATION T.A. trainee.

G1 Climax 2026 Block B:
Aaron Wolf [2] defeats HENARE [0] (9:01)

G1 Climax 2026 Block A:
Jake Lee [2] defeats Shingo Takagi [0] (10:14)

G1 Climax 2026 Block B:
OSKAR [2] defeats Ren Narita [0] by referee’s decision (9:42)

G1 Climax 2026 Block A:
Yuto-Ice [2] defeats Great-O-Khan [0] (11:11)

G1 Climax 2026 Block B:
Zack Sabre Jr. [2] defeats Shota Umino [0] (16:10)

G1 Climax 2026 Block A:
Hirooki Goto [2] defeats SANADA [0] (12:04)

G1 Climax 2026 Block B:
Callum Newman [2] defeats Yuya Uemura [0] (15:42)

G1 Climax 2026 Block A:
Ryohei Oiwa [2] defeats Oleg Boltin [0] (13:28)

G1 Climax 2026 Block A:
Yota Tsuji [2] defeats Konosuke Takeshita [0] (20:52)

NJPW World Television Title:
Konosuke Takeshita (c) defeats SANADA (8:24)

No Disqualification:
Jake Lee defeats El Phantasmo (w/Jado) by referee’s decision (9:40)

Taichi & Yuya Uemura defeat TMDK (Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.) (13:15)

El Desperado defeats Mistico (9:33)

NEVER Openweight Title:
Aaron Wolf defeats Ren Narita (w/Dick Togo, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi) (c) (9:24)

IWGP Tag Team Title:
United Empire (Great-O-Khan & HENARE) defeat Knockout Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice) (c) (21:30)

IWGP Global Heavyweight Title Three Way:
Shota Umino defeats Andrade El Idolo (c) and Drilla Moloney (16:20)

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title:
YOH defeats DOUKI (w/SHO) (c) (17:57)

IWGP Heavyweight Title:
Yota Tsuji (w/Shingo Takagi) defeats Callum Newman (w/Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan, Jake Lee & Zane Jay) (c) (24:32)

Goto Revolutionary Army (Hirooki Goto, Tatsuya Matsumoto & YOSHI-HASHI) defeat Masatora Yasuda, Taisei Nakahara & Tiger Mask (6:16)

United Empire (Francesco Akira, Jake Lee & Jakob Austin Young) defeat El Phantasmo, Jado & Shota Umino (7:44)

Six Or Nine (Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi), Daisuke Sasaki, Nick Wayne & Valiente Jr. defeat Unbound Co. (Daiki Nagai, Gedo, Robbie X, Taiji Ishimori & Titan) (10:25)

El Desperado & Hyo defeat House Of Torture (SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) (6:21)

KUSHIDA, Taichi & Yuya Uemura defeat TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Robbie Eagles & Ryohei Oiwa) (8:10)

Aaron Wolf, Jun Kasai & Toru Yano defeat House Of Torture (Dick Togo, Ren Narita & Yujiro Takahashi) (7:11)

Unbound Co. (OSKAR, Yota Tsuji & Yuto-Ice) defeat United Empire (Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan & Zane Jay) (13:55)

Best Of The Super Junior 33 Final:
YOH defeats Kosei Fujita (w/Hartley Jackson, Robbie Eagles & Ryohei Oiwa) (28:01)

STARDOM 5 STAR GRAND PRIX 2026 Standings as of 19th July (W-L-D)

Red Stars A

• Sayaka Kurara — 4 pts (2-0-0)
• Itsuki Aoki — 2 pts (1-0-0)
• Tomoka Inaba — 2 pts (1-1-0)
• Maika — 0 pts (0-0-0)
• AZM — 0 pts (0-0-0)
• Rina — 0 pts (0-1-0)
• Natsuko Tora — 0 pts (0-1-0)
• Akira Kurogane — 0 pts (0-1-0)

Red Stars B

• Saya Iida — 2 pts (1-0-0)
• Maki Ito — 2 pts (1-0-0)
• Mei Seira — 2 pts (1-1-0)
• Utami Hayashishita — 1 pts (0-0-1)
• Rina Yamashita — 1 pts (0-1-1)
• Konami — 0 pts (0-0-0)
• Lady C — 0 pts (0-0-0)
• Azusa Inaba — 0 pts (0-1-0)

*Bea Priestley suffered an injury in a match against Anne Kanaya on 5th July and was replaced by Julia Hart

Blue Stars A

• Ruaka — 4 pts (2-0-0)
• Aya Sakura — 2 pts (1-0-0)
• Suzu Suzuki — 2 pts (1-0-0)
• Julia Hart — 0 pts (0-0-0)
• Hina — 0 pts (0-1-0)
• Rian — 0 pts (0-1-0)
• HANAKO — 0 pts (0-1-0)
• Miyu Amasaki — 0 pts (0-1-0)

Blue Stars B

• Koguma — 4 pts (2-0-0)
• Momo Watanabe — 2 pts (1-0-0)
• Hanan — 2 pts (1-0-0)
• Starlight Kid — 0 pts (0-0-0)
• Saya Kamitani — 0 pts (0-0-0)
• Ami Sohrei — 0 pts (0-1-0)
• Yuna Mizumori — 0 pts (0-1-0)
• Kikyo Furusawa — 0 pts (0-2-0)

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

• Sayaka Kurara vs. Suzu Suzuki – 20th June at Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2
• Natsupoi vs. Syuri – 18th July at Ota Ward General Gymnasium
• Rina vs. Sayaka Kurara – 19th July at Loisir Hotel Toyohashi
• Suzu Suzuki vs. Utami Hayashishita – 30th June at Korakuen Hall
• Rina Yamashita vs. Syuri – 20th June at Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2
• Anne Kanaya vs. Kiyoka Kotatsu – 5th July at Herbis Hall
• Anne Kanaya, Aya Sakura, Natsupoi & Yuna Mizumori vs. Bea Priestley, Konami, Rina & Saya Kamitani – 30th May at Kobe Sambo Hall
• Aya Sakura vs. HANAKO – 18th July at Ota Ward General Gymnasium
• Ami Sourei, Hina & Lady C vs. Fukigen Death, Konami & Rina – 26th May at Korakuen Hall
• Rina Yamashita vs. Utami Hayashishita – 19th July at Loisir Hotel Toyohashi
• Ami Sourei, Hina & Lady C vs. Aya Sakura, Natsupoi & Yuna Mizumori – 14th June at Korakuen Hall
• Ami Sourei, Hina & Lady C vs. Kikyo Furusawa, Maki Itoh & Rian – 20th June at Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2
• Mei Seira vs. Rina Yamashita – 18th July at Ota Ward General Gymnasium
• Rina vs. Saya Iida – 7th June at Light Cube Utsunomiya
• AZM & Miyu Amasaki vs. HANAKO & Maika – 8th July at Korakuen Hall
• Anne Kanaya, Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara vs. Natsupoi, Saori Anou & Yuna Mizumori – 30th June at Korakuen Hall
• Anne Kanaya vs. Bea Priestley – 28th June at Toyama Industrial Exhibition Hall Techno Hall East Building
• AZM, Miyu Amasaki, Starlight Kid & Utami Hayashishita vs. Bea Priestley, Konami, Momo Watanabe & Saya Kamitani – 20th June at Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2
• Hanan vs. Saya Iida – 20th June at Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2
• Akira Kurogane & Suzu Suzuki vs. Anne Kanaya & Sayaka Kurara – 31st May at KBS Hall
• Ami Sourei, Hina, Kiyoka Kotatsu, Lady C, Ranna Yagami & Syuri vs. Anne Kanaya, Aya Sakura, Natsupoi, Saori Anou, Sayaka Kurara & Yuna Mizumori – 8th July at Korakuen Hall
• Hina vs. Suzu Suzuki – 19th July at Loisir Hotel Toyohashi
• Akira Kurogane vs. Kiyoka Kotatsu – 11th July at Fujisan Messe
• Momo Watanabe vs. Yuna Mizumori – 18th July at Ota Ward General Gymnasium

Yuna Mizumori defeats Matoi Hamabe (5:47)

Mei Seira defeats Ema Maishima (9:10)

Aya Sakura defeats Anne Kanaya (7:19)

God’s Eye (Kiyoka Kotatsu & Ranna Yagami) defeat Koguma & Maika and Mi Vida Loca (Akira Kurogane & Itsuki Aoki) (5:31)

Artist Of Stardom Title:
God’s Eye (Ami Sourei, Hina & Lady C) (c) defeat Kikyo Furusawa, Maki Ito & Rian (16:02)

Cosmic Angels (Natsupoi & Saori Anou), Fuwa-chan & Hazuki defeat HATE (Azusa Inaba, Fukigen Death, Natsuko Tora & Ruaka) (8:19)

Xena defeats HANAKO (10:18)

Neo Genesis (AZM, Miyu Amasaki & Starlight Kid) & Utami Hayashishita defeat HATE (Bea Priestley, Konami, Momo Watanabe & Saya Kamitani) (15:18)

IWGP Women’s Title:
Syuri (c) defeats Rina Yamashita (21:18)

Wonder Of Stardom Title:
Hanan (c) defeats Saya Iida (19:36)

World Of Stardom Title:
Suzu Suzuki defeats Sayaka Kurara (c) (21:32)

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

• Kazuyuki Fujita & Mohammed Yone vs. Stallion Rogers & Yoshiki Inamura – 3rd June at Hodogaya Public Hall
• Daiki Odashima vs. Tetsuya Naito – 8th July at Shinjuku FACE
• Dragon Bane vs. Eita – 20th June at Agematsu Town Community Center
• Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino – 16th June at Korakuen Hall
• Archie Cole, Kaito Kiyomiya & Titus Alexander vs. Chris Brookes, Luis Mante & Zack Sabre Jr. – 15th June at Korakuen Hall
• Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Titus Alexander – 18th May at Shinjuku FACE
• BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito vs. Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino – 25th June at Korakuen Hall
• Alejandro & Kaito Kiyomiya vs. HAYATA & Tetsuya Endo – 7th June at Kawanishi Sports Centre
• Mio Momono vs. Momoka Hanazono vs. Seri Yamaoka – 25th May at Shinjuku FACE

23rd May 2026
KBS Hall, Kyoto, Japan

The Global Tag League kicked off at the unusual location of Kyoto – not that Kyoto is weird, but it’s certainly not the typical starting point for tournaments in a promotion like NOAH. The promotion would normally begin its tournaments at Korakuen Hall, but they won’t be back in Tokyo until the week after on 30th May. It makes sense though, it’s important for promotions in the second tier in Japan to expand out of Tokyo, whether that’s NOAH, DDT or STARDOM.

I caught a few non-block matches, including the opener where Alejandro, Stallion Rogers & Yoshiki Inamura faced Katsumi Inahata, KENTA & Yuto Koyanagi. Koyanagi is going to be a big player in the junior heavyweight division in the future. He has always impressed the most out of all the rookies, and as more time passes, it is more and more the case. Stallion and Yoshiki have a funny finish where Stallion is going for a flatliner, but Yoshiki just lifts him up even higher so that the flatliner to the opponent hurts even more. Of course, it also hurts Stallion, so he just wiggles over the corpse of the opponent to pin them. I hope we see more stuff like that throughout the tournament.

AMAKUSA, Daiki Odashima, Kenoh & Naomichi Marufuji took on Team 2000X (Jun Masaoka, Kai Fujimura, OZAWA & Tadasuke). I have been skipping a lot of Team 2000X matches on house shows due to how slow and usually uninteresting they are. I thought I’d give this a try given the great babyface team. It’s still not doing it for me.

Block A

Block A took centre stage in Kyoto with three matches. The show was headlined by Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito) continuing their feud with Team 2000X (Masa Kitamiya & Takashi Sugiura). As you can imagine with these four guys, there was a lot of crowd brawling smoke and mirrors. Though this match felt like there wasn’t a lot of action yet, the crowd were super, super hot for Naito. He barely did anything and had the crowd in the palm of his hand. They exploded when he hit Destino on Kitamiya for the win.

There were some crazy bumps in the match between Elegant Darkness (HAYATA & Tetsuya Endo) and Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos I & Kid Lykos II). I thought Endo almost died at least two times on some of the hurricanrana counters. There were also a lot of very fun nearfalls between Endo and Lykos II. Endo won with the Burning Star Press.

The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) defeated All Rebellion (Harutoki & Kaito Kiyomiya).

24th May 2026
Umeda Sky Building, Stella Hall, Osaka, Japan

NOAH continued their tour of Kansai to kick off the league in Osaka, although with EDION Arena under refurbishment, NOAH went to its familiar second home in Osaka in Umeda Sky Building. In the opener, Eita faced rookie Midori Takahashi, who, to be honest, I feel has struggled compared to Yuto Koyanagi and Hiroto Tsuruya. He has a less distinct personality and feels the most like a rookie, which he is of course, it’s just that the others feel like they’ve progressed really well but Midori is at the same level as before.

Block B

TMP Sqwad (Katsumi Inahata & KENTA) and Sunsetters (Stallion Rogers & Yoshiki Inamura) kicked things off for Block B in a match that totally exceeded my expectations. I had not seen any of Stallion Rogers before, but he was lighting up Katsumi with awesome overhand chops and Katsumi’s selling was great. Katsumi fought back with a hellish dropkick after which you could see spit fly from Stallion’s mouth before Katsumi tagged KENTA in. Sunsetters won the match as Inamura finished Katsumi off with the same cool move they debuted on the undercard on the first night (picking up Stallion to deliver a flatliner to Katsumi). It does look goofy, but it’s also awesome at the same time.

Passion MAX (Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino) beat Beast Funkies (Kazuyuki Fujita & Mohammed Yone).

MaruKen (Kenoh & Naomichi Marufuji) faced Real Outcasts (OZAWA & Tadasuke) in the main event. This tour is the first time that Kenoh and OZAWA have been reunited since their feud last summer, with the promotion doing its best to keep them apart. In my opinion, Kenoh gave OZAWA the best match of his career in July 2025, so I always have a soft spot for them going up against each other. While I didn’t think this had the explosiveness of their previous battles, it was a solid main event that MaruKen took the victory in.

26th May 2026
Light Cube Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan

In Utsunomiya, NOAH brought in some Tochigi Pro wrestlers for the undercard, as Daiki Odashima, Kaito Kiyomiya & Yuto Koyanagi faced the Tochigi trio of Satsuki Nagao, Shoki Kitamura & Takumi Baba. Daiki and Satsuki started the match and it was pretty great, as you’d expect from two of the best junior heavyweights on the planet (how did only nine people, including me, vote Daiki Odashima for Wrestling Observer Newsletter Rookie of the Year)? This undercard match totally overdelivered. It was heated due to the home crowd being familiar with the Tochigi boys, but also Koyanagi was just a total boss in this match. He really is the most impressive of the new crop that’s come through.

Block A

For Los Tranquilos de Japon’s (BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito) Block A match against Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II), BUSHI wore a furry mask to the ring, mocking Lykos Gym (Lykos is Greek for “wolf”). BUSHI & Naito were very over in Tochigi. It was clear who they wanted to win, although I did hear “Lykos” calls a few times from fans. Tranquilos locked on a double submission for the win.

The main event of this show was The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) against Elegant Darkness (HAYATA & Tetsuya Endo). I can’t put any words to this match. It wasn’t bad, but I was definitely bored. Good Brothers won.

30th May 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,296
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo Japan

The first double block day of the tournament took place at Korakuen Hall on day four. It’s kind of astonishing the mid-tournament matches without any title matches drew 1,296 fans. NOAH really are in the DDT and STARDOM tier of promotions right now.

In the opener, rookies Hiroto Tsuruya and RYUSEI wrapped up their best of three series by playing out the third game even though RYUSEI had won two of them already. I guess they thought it would be an even bigger pop if he beat RYUSEI for the first time at Korakuen Hall. Tsuruya already won a match on his debut so it wasn’t his first ever win, and RYUSEI was technically 3-0 against Tsuruya including their Sumo Hall match, so I would have just had them at one match a piece heading into this so they could settle it here. Alas. The finish was messed up a bit as Tsuruya lost his balance on the single leg Boston crab at the last moment but RYUSEI tapped anyway, so it looked like RYUSEI tapped to nothing.

NOAH’s other rookie Midori Takahashi faced Jun Masaoka in a singles match. It was a bit less eventful. The final NOAH rookie, Yuto Koyanagi, teamed with Eita against Alejandro & Daiki Odashima and Team NOAH (Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69) in a three-way tag team. Koyanagi is going to be absolutely fine. He showed his comic chops here with Daiki, apologising for trying to pin him. We know he’s got the athleticism and strength. Daiki and Koyanagi are going to absolutely rule the junior heavyweights in Japan. This is a funny place to note how much of a big deal Team NOAH were after Shiozaki left, and they’ve done absolutely nothing and been beaten consistently. Well, they got their big win here as Hi69 pinned Ale to set up a GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title match.

Block A

Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito) faced All Rebellion (Harutoki & Kaito Kiyomiya). Naito was super over. An evergreen statement. In fact, this whole match was pretty over. The thing about Kaito is that despite the promotion not doing anything with him, he remains very popular. While OZAWA, Inamura and White Raven Sqwad took up the top of the card, Kaito was quietly down cycled. Yet, he has managed to stay hot, which is a testament to his talent. He pinned BUSHI with the Skywalker Elbow.

God Chairman (Masa Kitamiya & Takashi Sugiura) beat The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson). God Chairman were basically babyfaces here and Sugiura even won with a hurricanrana flash pin to a big pop. This match was solid and overdelivered on my expectations.

Block B

MaruKen (Kenoh & Naomichi Marufuji) took on Passion MAX (Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino) in the main event at Korakuen Hall. You’d expect it to have more heat than the preceding LTJ/Rebellion match but, initially, it did not. But, given the nature of both teams as top babyfaces, it didn’t take long to change that. The match layout helped as there were a lot of close near falls and the crowd wanted Passion to get the upset. The crowd got what they wanted.

Sunsetters (Stallion Rogers & Yoshiki Inamura) faced OZAWA & Tadasuke. The key spot here was a ref bump into OZAWA & Tadasuke using a ladder. This was clearly a jab at the Twitter discourse surrounding Jun Kasai’s use of ladders in New Japan and the referees holding them up and fans not being happy about that. OZAWA was holding down the ladder in an exaggerated manner. He later climbed it but got scared because it was shaking too much. Then, Yoshiki lifted up the huge ladder, with OZAWA on top, causing OZAWA to fall to the outside. That was an absolutely insane spot.

31st May 2026
Aore Nagaoka, Niigata, Japan

Block B

There were two Block B matches in Niigata. In the first match Beast Funkies (Kazuyuki Fujita & Mohammed Yone) faced the former GHC Tag Team Champions MaruKen (Kenoh & Naomichi Marufuji). MaruKen were the juniors in this match and had to overcome the wall of the Funkies. If that’s your thing, you may enjoy this match.

In the main event, TMP Sqwad (Katsumi Inahata & KENTA) faced Team 2000X (OZAWA & Tadasuke). There were some strong parts to this match. Tadasuke wrestled much better than I expected, destroying KENTA with a lariat and laying his stuff in. I would have loved for Inahata to have a bit more shine in this match, since you know, it’s 2026 and KENTA has had his moment. OZAWA won with the lionsault on Katsumi.

2nd June 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

On the undercard at Shinjuku FACE, Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI, RYUSEI & Tetsuya Naito) faced AMAKUSA, Daiki Odashima & Midori Takahashi. This match was heated, as are a lot of Naito matches. Daiki hitting Naito off the apron also elicited huge “Daiki!” chants from the audience. Midori was more popular here than I had ever seen him before, once again proof that the outsider model continues to yield benefits. The crowd yelled his name, urging him not to tab out to RYUSEI’s Boston crab. Alas, he did anyway. Pretty great undercard match.

The other undercard match I wanted to see was Eita and TMP Sqwad (Katsumi Inahata & KENTA) against Yuto Koyanagi & Passion MAX (Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino). KENTA is treated like a legend by the NOAH fans and is still very over. This match was notable for the stretch featuring Koyanagi and Katsumi going back and forth. They are the standouts of the four “rookies” currently and they showed why here. Katsumi is obviously well polished, but Koyanagi is impressive for only having debuted seven months prior.

Block A

There were only two Block A matches on this show. First, Elegant Darkness (HAYATA & Tetsuya Endo) defeated God Chairman (Masa Kitamiya & Takashi Sugiura) as HAYATA scored a flash pin on Sugiura. Endo still has a lot of heat and can easily be slotted into a top position. God Chairman has been a solid team to watch. While they don’t necessarily knock it out of the park, all of their matches are heated and have been enjoyable.

In the main event, All Rebellion (Harutoki & Kaito Kiyomiya) lost to Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos I & Kid Lykos II) in front of a hot Shinjuku FACE crowd. Lykos Gym has been a solid addition to the tag league. The fans enjoy them, they are solid workers and give people like Harutoki a much needed shine. While he lost to a well-executed flash pin, Harutoki looked good on the finishing stretch and the fans were shrieking each time he was almost caught by a nearfall. That’s what these types of tours should be doing, elevating people lower down the roster. But maybe he should have won.

3rd June 2026
Hodogawa Public Hall, Kanagawa, Japan
Recommended Match: Kazuyuki Fujita & Mohammed Yone vs. Stallion Rogers & Yoshiki Inamura

© NOAH

In the opener AMAKUSA & Yuto Koyanagi took on Hiroto Tsuruya & Kenoh. I always try to watch as many of the rookie matches as possible, unless it contains Team NOAH members or Black Menso-re. This was a good opener focusing on the rookies, with the former MichiPro wrestlers AMAKUSA & Kenoh thrown in to add a little bit of spice. Koyanagi has such an awesome fire-up and it’s something that Tsuruya is missing.

Block B

In the main event, Beast Funkies (Kazuyuki Fujita & Mohammed Yone) went to war with Sunsetters (Stallion Rogers & Yoshiki Inamura). Fujita was absolutely hilarious in this match in every way you expect out of him. Sunsetters would try their best to take him down but he would respond with some incredibly expensive receipts to the delight of the crowd. Rogers destroyed both his head and Fujita’s mouth on a running headbutt. Yone followed up with the Muscle Buster on Rogers for the two points. Inamura got into a fight with Fujita after the bell as Fujita once again refused to shake Inamura’s hand. It almost looked like a shoot. I’m sure it wasn’t, but Inamura was totally fucking up Fujita, slapping him around the face multiple times while in the full mount position. Both refused to back down and leave the ring for several minutes, just barking at each other from across the ring while the referee and Yone held them apart from each other. It genuinely looked like there was real heat there.

When Fujita joined NOAH, he pinned Inamura, and Inamura never got the win back. Fujita has also beaten Inamura multiple times over the years in violent bouts. It was almost as if Inamura wanted to prove he’s not a young boy of the past and Fujita is well, Fujita. Inamura finally left the ring, but it was to bring a mic into the ring, and then end up not using it as he just shouted at Fujita and ended his speech with a headbutt. His speech was basically about how many times Fujita had knocked him down, burst his eardrums, knocked him out. Fujita told Inamura that he doesn’t want a damn handshake, he wants some hatred. They traded some more stiff slaps before finally shaking hands. They then set up a singles match, which confirmed that all of this was a work. This was utterly surreal and has to be seen to be believed. The best works are the ones that blur the lines of reality, and this was expertly executed by both Fujita and Inamura and needs to receive the highest form of praise.

TMP Sqwad (Katsumi Inahata & KENTA) collided with Passion MAX (Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino). It was fun seeing Katsumi try to repel the passion and regularly looking grossed out by how passionate Passion MAX were. Iino was such a great addition to NOAH and he provides a shot in the arm in this tournament.

5th June 2026
Iwate Prefectural Gymnasium, Iwate, Japan

On a Friday night, NOAH decided to run a relatively big building in Iwate, the same one that New Japan runs (as well as Michinoku Pro) for one of their biggest shows in 2025. It was a bold strategy that NOAH took with this Tag League, visiting North Japan and more rural places than they had done in years, fueled somewhat by Tetsuya Naito, more so than in Tokyo at least. While New Japan regularly gets over 1k in the building, NOAH announced 475. That’s not bad for a house show, but I imagine the building might be a bit expensive to rent given its size and how few wrestling companies run there. But that’s just guesswork. The fact they ran here at all is noteworthy in itself.

Anyway, there were a few more interesting matches on this undercard than usual, with the first an all-rookie bout between Midori Takahashi and Yuto Koyanagi, probably the least impressive rookie against the most, respectively. There wasn’t much to this match. Yuto won with a roll-up.

The Michinoku Pro duo, AMAKUSA & Kenoh, teamed up once again in their old stomping grounds in Iwate alongside Naomichi Marufuji to beat Black Menso-re and TWP Sqwad (Katsumi Inahata & KENTA). Obviously, Menso-re got pinned. He’s quite over on these house shows and they delayed his hot tag quite a bit, in a match with people like KENTA. Yeah.

The final undercard match I was interested in was Alejandro, Hiroto Tsuruya and Sunsetters (Stallion Rogers & Yoshiki Inamura) against Daiki Odashima, Eita and Passion MAX (Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino). At one point, rather than break up a submission that Tsuruya had on Daiki, Passion MAX decided to just scream at Daiki and hope that it helped him break the hold. Fun match, still not sure about Tsuruya. I mean, he’ll be fine, it’s early days, but he hasn’t shown any personality so far. Rogers was wearing a head bandage to mask the injury he suffered in the Beast Funkies match in Hodogaya days prior.

Block A

There were three Block A matches on this show. In the first, Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) faced Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II). There were some cool spots in this match such as Doc hitting Lykos II with a Styles Clash to a huge pop.

All Rebellion (Alejandro & Kaito Kiyomiya) faced God Chairman (Masa Kitamiya & Takashi Sugiura), with Alejandro serving as a replacement for Harutoki, who had to pull out of the tournament due to injury. It might be a work. If you remember, Kitamiya had to shave his hair because he lost a Hair vs. Unit match against Kaito on 5th May. In this match, God Chairman destroyed Alejandro and won the match relatively quickly. Alejandro had worked earlier in the night, so it made sense.

Finally, in the main event, Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito) faced Elegant Darkness (HAYATA & Tetsuya Endo). Naito won with the Destino on HAYATA to a big pop. Endo was pretty good, but we already know that.

6th June 2026
Akita Furusato Village Dome Theatre, Akita, Japan

NOAH continued day two of their north Japan tour in Akita, a place pretty much only run by New Japan and STARDOM out of the major companies, with indies such as JTO and Michinoku Pro also running there regularly given their roots there (TAKA Michinoku runs JTO and he started out his career in the region). The last time NOAH held a show in this prefecture, according to Cagematch records, was 2023. That shows you the level of confidence they currently have and what strategy they wanted to take with this Tag League, which I think is a smart strategy to re-establish yourself as a national player.

Block B

In the main event of the show, Beast Funkies (Kazuyuki Fujita & Mohammed Yone) faced Team 2000X (OZAWA & Tadasuke). This match was quite funny. Team 2000X did a ref bump to beat up Yone, but then Fujita chased off five of them. Nevertheless, OZAWA took the win with the springboard moonsault he’s been finishing matches off with for a while, wanting to keep the Real Rebel (Phoenix Splash) for the big matches.

Passion MAX (Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino) clashed at full speed against Sunsetters (Stallion Rogers & Yoshiki Inamura). Literally. Inamura and Iino assumed sumo-style stances and ran into each other outside of the ring to kick off the match. Sometimes, you just need big beefy men running into each other while screaming like maniacs to entertain you. Sunsetters picked up the win with Inamura’s DISCHARGE.

TMP Sqwad (Katsumi Inahata & KENTA) were looking for their first win against MaruKen (Kenoh & Naomichi Marufuji) but were unsuccessful as Inahata plays the role of the rookie who loses his team all of their matches. This storyline already happened in the Junior Tag League earlier in the year too.

7th June 2026
Kawanishi Sports Centre, Aomori, Japan
Recommended Match: Alejandro & Kaito Kiyomiya vs. HAYATA & Tetsuya Endo

© NOAH

Block A

The final day of Block A action took place on the last day of NOAH’s North Japan tour, where the winner of the block would be decided. The short of it is that two of the three Block A matches had 100% predictable results, yet the show completely overdelivered on expectations and all three matches were really solid. Overall, this was the best night of the Tag League so far.

Firstly, with Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II out of the competition, they could only play spoiler and ensure God Chairman (Masa Kitamiya & Takashi Sugiura) didn’t advance by making them drop any points. Of course, that wouldn’t happen because they wanted to build the most suspense possible for the final match of the night, and that would be by having God Chairman tie Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito) and Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) with 6 points. Which meant that this match between Lykos Gym and God Chairman was a foregone conclusion. Despite that, it was fun and both teams worked hard. There were some kids in the audience that absolutely loved God Chairman.

Then, if Elegant Darkness (HAYATA & Tetsuya Endo) defeated All Rebellion (Alejandro & Kaito Kiyomiya), they would also be on 6 points, so they had to win, too. Again, despite the result being predictable, they absolutely worked their ass off. This is probably the second best match of the tournament behind the Beast Funkies & Sunsetters match. There were some great nearfalls here where I was sure Elegant Darkness had won but Alejandro would kick out at absolutely the last moment. Also, the “Ospreay” spot was on display as Alejandro attempted an avalanche poisonrana but Endo landed on his feet, perfectly, not like Seth Rollins. This was great.

So the only match that actually mattered and had any suspense was the main event, where Los Tranquilos de Japon faced Good Brothers. The background for this match, almost eleven years since the last, can be summed up by Naito’s quote in Shupro #2415:

“Whilst there was certainly a sense of nostalgia in wrestling Anderson & Gallows again, seeing the four of us gathered together in the ring made me think, “Wow, this feels just like New Japan.” The fact that this moment was playing out in NOAH really made me feel the passage of time, in a way.”

The match obviously had a lot of heat, as all Tranquilos matches do. I think Good Brothers were solid in this match and played off of that well. The craziest spot was Naito taking an avalanche powerbomb from Anderson. No really, that actually happened. Aside from that, both teams knew that BUSHI & Naito would be the favourites and leaned into it, with a lot of great nearfalls. Yeah. I am surprised this match was as good as it was. What can I say? Anyway, The Good Brothers won.

13th June 2026
Kiramesse Numazu, Shizuoka, Japan

There was one reason and one reason only I wanted to see Atsushi Kotoge, Daiki Odashima & Midori Takahashi against Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI, RYUSEI & Tetsuya Naito) on the undercard. That reason was seeing Daiki go up against Naito for the second time since Naito joined NOAH. Daiki immediately dropkicked Naito while Naito was taking off his gear at the start of the match, and then threw Naito’s coat aggressively outside the ring. That’s my guy.

Block B

This show would decide the finals of the tournament as Block B would wrap up. Much like the Block A, you could tell the results just from what tiebreakers they wanted to set up. In the first match, Passion MAX (Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino) beat Team 2000X (OZAWA & Tadasuke. Since the main event between MaruKen (Kenoh & Naomichi Marufuji) and Sunsetters (Stallion Rogers & Yoshiki Inamura) would result in a team ending up on 7 points, and Passion MAX had 6 points with Team 2000X on 4 points, the only result here was Passion MAX winning. They didn’t have to, but Passion MAX is popular and they wanted to give the crowd hope that they could make it to the final. So I wasn’t shocked by the finish as much as the crowd were. That said, it was a fun house show match, with Passion MAX reversing the licking spot on OZAWA to a big pop.

In the main event, the results here were either a MaruKen win leading to Passion MAX going to the finals on a head-to-head record due to losing to them earlier in the tournament, or Sunsetters going through on head-to-head due to beating Passion MAX. Either way, MaruKen were out of the tournament due to the Passion MAX win in the previous match. MaruKen were only playing for the honour of winning in the main event on the anniversary of the death of NOAH’s founder, the legendary Mitsuhara MIsawa. Channeling that spirit, MaruKen managed to beat Sunsetters, putting Passion MAX through to the final. The main event was pretty good with good striking and some dynamic sequences. Sunsetters have been an enjoyable watch the entire tournament.

There was also TMP Sqwad (Katsumi Inahata & KENTA) against Beast Funkies (Kazuyuki Fujita & Mohammed Yone) but this had no bearing on the final result.

Block A

• Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson — 8 pts (4-1-0) – Advanced to Final
• BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito — 6 pts (3-2-0)
• HAYATA & Tetsuya Endo — 6 pts (3-2-0)
• Masa Kitamiya & Takashi Sugiura — 6 pts (3-2-0)
• Alejandro & Kaito Kiyomiya — 2 pts (1-3-0)
• Kid Lykos I & Kid Lykos II — 2 pts (1-3-0)

Block B

• Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino — 8 pts (4-1-0) – Advanced to Final on H2H
• Kenoh & Naomichi Marufuji — 8 pts (4-1-0)
• Stallion Rogers & Yoshiki Inamura — 6 pts (3-1-0)
• OZAWA & Tadasuke — 4 pts (2-3-0)
• Kazuyuki Fujita & Mohammed Yone — 4 pts (2-3-0)
• Katsumi Inahata & KENTA — 0 pts (0-5-0)

Black Menso-re, Hiroto Tsuruya & Katsumi Inahata defeat Midori Takahashi, Super Crazy & Yuto Koyanagi (6:35)

Stallion Rogers & Yoshiki Inamura defeat Kazuyuki Fujita & Mohammed Yone (4:23)

AMAKUSA, Daiki Odashima & Lykos Gym (Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II) defeat Team 2000X (Alpha Wolf, Jun Masaoka, OZAWA & Tadasuke) (9:15)

Eita & Shuji Kondo defeat Kenoh & Naomichi Marufuji (7:40)

Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito), Kaito Kiyomiya & KENTA defeat Team 2000X (Masa Kitamiya & Takashi Sugiura) & White Raven Squad (HAYATA & Tetsuya Endo) (10:39)

GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title:
Alejandro & Dragon Bane (c) defeat Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara (15:55)

Neo Global Tag League 2026 Final:
Passionate RATEL’S (Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino) defeat Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) (25:55)

20th June 2026
Agematsu Town Community Centre, Nagano, Japan
Recommended Match: Dragon Bane vs. Eita

© NOAH

Eita won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Title on his homecoming show in Nagano, defeating Dragon Bane in the main event. Bane is one of the best wrestlers on the roster and should be pushed strongly, so him being the junior heavyweight ace and double champion was quite fitting. So, I was quite sad to see him lose the title, but it depends on what they do with him next. NOAH has done extremely well in elevating Bane and Alpha Wolf in 2026, so I have to give them some leeway that they will find a fitting role for Bane following this loss. HAYATA was announced as Eita’s next opponent, which is probably just a filler defence given NOAH is running Korakuen so often.

Bane showed off his athleticism early as he sprinted full speed and vaulted over the barricade, launching himself into Eita, who was sitting in a fan’s chair. That wasn’t the only crazy dive of the match. Shortly later, Eita attempted a tope con giro and he was going so fast that Bane, who graciously caught his colleague, was catapulted backwards and they both fell over the railings. Both were fine, but these two dives were indicative of the type of match they were going for. For Eita, a former Grand Slam champion in Dragongate (Dream, Brave, Twin & Triangle Gate Titles) and now a three-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, it was a throwback to the older the days, the rare times in current-day NOAH where Eita puts his foot on the gas. It’s never been a case of ability, just whether Eita feels like it. In his hometown, against one of the best junior heavyweights in the world, apparently Eita felt like it.

In the “finishing stretch”, Eita hit Imperial Uno for a nearfall that the entire audience thought was the finish. But, the two weren’t done having their huge spots as Bane hit a crazy super frankensteiner on Eita before lining him up for the Shooting Star Press that has put away so many opponents. Of course, Eita kicked out. Bane hit his Santa Maria Driver, yet another one of his deadly finishers. Eita kicked out. The stretch which I thought was the end of the match was actually around five or ten minutes before the finish. I was surprised at how much they did after what I thought was the peak of the match. It did work for the crowd, though, so who cares. This match was essentially one of those Dragongate-style matches, so it did stand out in the NOAH landscape, and Bane is maybe the only person on the roster Eita could have this type of match with.

25th June 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,202
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

NOAH was back at Korakuen Hall yet again. This was a solid show, skippable if you’re only there for the matches and happy to watch the angles on social media, but definitely a well booked show with clear angles leading to their big show on 18th July at INTEX Osaka. In the main event, Shane Haste successfully defended his GHC Heavyweight Title against his White Raven Sqwad teammate, Tetsuya Endo. I thought there was a strong chance that Endo could win, considering he said that he would make an announcement if he won, and it was speculated he would join NOAH full-time after winning the title. Not only that, but he’s also very popular with the fans and has been positioned well for a title run. Clearly, that wasn’t the plan, and if he didn’t win here, I think it is unlikely he is winning at all during this excursion, unless he extends his stay another year. The match was quite good, with the crowd on Endo’s side for the entirety of the match.

Haste retaining did make some sense with who was the next challenger, as OZAWA came out to challenge for the title, in a match set for INTEX Osaka. The post-match was quite funny. OZAWA came out and the crowd went wild, so he told them to calm down because he was only there to translate, because Shane’s usual translator, KENTA, wasn’t around. Shane didn’t trust him, but began to talk English. OZAWA then “translated”, saying that Shane said that he was really happy that OZAWA came out because attendance at Korakuen Hall is declining, and their press conferences have generated zero buzz whatsoever. Shane said he didn’t understand and continued talking in English. OZAWA then continued the “translation” saying that Shane said that the title match today wasn’t that good (the crowd booed OZAWA for that, they do like Shane & Endo), and that maybe Shane should face OZAWA instead. He then lied by saying Shane challenged him. Finally, OZAWA spoke as himself, graciously accepting “Shane’s challenge”. If only OZAWA could produce a top-level match against people not named Kaito Kiyomiya, his ceiling would be limitless.

Following on from their tag league win, it was inevitable, and it happened: Passion MAX (Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino) won the GHC Tag Team Title, defeating Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito). They were one of the most fun teams in the tournament, they had completely committed to the gimmick with their hair styles and matching costumes, and they were over with the crowd. If LTJ didn’t drop the titles here, then when would they? The crowd was super hot for this match. The finishing stretch was great, with BUSHI misting Soya, whose selling led to several incredible nearfalls. You couldn’t help but smile when Passion MAX hyped each other up, with Iino taking the mist from Soya’s face and rubbing it on his own and then combining together to hit their finishing move on BUSHI to a deafening crowd. After the match, God Chairman (Masa Kitamiya & Takashi Sugiura) challenged for the titles, set for 18th July.

GHC National Champion Naomichi Marufuji defended his title against Shuji Kondo. This match continued a run of form for Marufuji ever since he won the title, a run so surprising that Paul of Emerald Flowshow called him “The Most Improved Wrestler of 2026 (so far)”. After the match, Kenoh came out to challenge his tag team partner. It was set for the big Osaka show. In his promo, Kenoh said that Marufuji needed to stop being defensive and always taking orders and go on the attack for once. He pointed out to the fact that a few years ago, NOAH didn’t book rookies and only recruited those 180cm or taller, but Kenoh took the initiative and changed it by bringing in Daiki Odashima (170cm), while Marufuji just sat there and accepted the orders. Kenoh said that stability breeds no evolution, and he was going to shake up the division, and make sure Marufuji has nothing to defend anymore by taking the title from him. Marufuji fought back saying that first of all, Kenoh’s promo was longer than his match, and secondly, he had never seen Kenoh in the dojo, so if he’s going to bring wrestlers in, at least train them, too.

The GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Alejandro, Dragon Bane & Kaito Kiyomiya faced Team 2000X (Kai Fujimura, Masa Kitamiya & OZAWA). OZAWA won with the Big Ben Edge into the Lionsault. After the match, Kitamiya suggested that All Rebellion should disband (again) and then left. Alejandro and Kaito stared at each other for like a minute before shaking hands. Backstage they said nothing about disbanding and set up a singles match. I have no idea what’s going on with this All Rebellion storyline. It is never ending.

Team 2000X (Alpha Wolf, Jun Masaoka, Tadasuke & Takashi Sugiura) faced Daiki Odashima and the rookies he had a hand in training: Hiroto Tsuruya, Midori Takahashi & Yuto Koyanagi. Of course, it was ruled as a no contest when Team 2000X began to use some ladders after their ladder match in Osaka on 18th July was set up. But it made sense as it was to set up the post-match angle, with AMAKUSA coming to the save and Daiki doing a plancha off of a ladder to the heels on the outside. AMAKUSA then announced that he would also take part in the ladder match. After this match later in the show, Eita backstage wasn’t happy about AMAKUSA and Daiki competing for N-1 spots and ignoring his GHC Junior Heavyweight Title.

5th July 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,359
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

NOAH are in a position where they can now afford to put on preview tags at Korakuen and still draw a healthy number, just like STARDOM. It has sort of come at a bit of a weird time since there’s no real reason why it’s happening. Naito has helped, but it’s not as if they are all there for him given the fact he’s routinely booed. They are just in a bit of a business boom, even if the product isn’t as exciting as it was before (according to the NOAH office themselves). Anyway, GHC Heavyweight Champion Shane Haste teamed with GHC Tag Team Champion Manabu Soya against their challengers at the big Osaka show, OZAWA & Takashi Sugiura, respectively. Sugiura was having none of Soya’s shit, shutting his mouth closed and cutting him off every time Soya wanted to scream “JONETSU”. But, there was nothing that could stop him. Soya even did push-ups while in a Boston crab. Sugiura stole the win, with Soya kicking out at 3.1. Masa Kitamiya clashed with the other GHC Tag Team Champion Yuki Iino in a singles match. I don’t think it’d surprise you if I said Yuki Iino was very over. This was a good match. Kitamiya tapped Iino out.

Because of how many Korakuen Hall shows NOAH were running, the junior heavyweights got the opportunity to close the show in the main event, as Eita defended his GHC Junior Heavyweight Title against HAYATA. It wasn’t great. A lot of dead air, HAYATA acting as if he’s a threatening veteran bully. Eita, usually the threatening veteran bully, acting as a heroic babyface. There was a crazy bump where Eita did a variation of a Kudo Driver and HAYATA literally bumped on his head. I was surprised the match continued. Eita successfully retained. Kai Fujimura came out to challenge. Then BUSHI misted him and came out to challenge for INTEX Osaka on 18th July. Awful. It was not long ago we had Hiromu Takahashi and AMAKUSA as champions, taking on people like Daiki Odashima.

Following on from the last show, Alejandro and Kaito Kiyomiya had a singles match to determine whether they should continue on with All Rebellion or not. I was hoping Alejandro would win since surely that would mean a disband. The Mad Prince (the no-selling gimmick that Kaito debuted against OZAWA almost a year ago, a gimmick which I thought was going somewhere but ended up going nowhere) came out in this match, no-selling Alejandro’s slaps. It was a decent match, and then Kaito thanked Alejandro, before Ale left, confirming the disbandment of All Rebellion. Naito came out after for a quick promo battle ahead of their match. He wanted to make their match a #1 Contendership for the GHC Heavyweight Title. Kaito accepted (I guess they have a lot of power in the back). Later in the show, OZAWA mocked Naito and Kaito trying to decide the stipulation of their match, saying that decision was for champions only, and Kaito ran out to attack OZAWA. Inamura then came out to act as the peacemaker, breaking them apart and making them shake hands. This was a clear nod to the massive feature in Shupro #2417 that highlighted the “Big Three”.

Both Kazuyuki Fujita and Kenoh participated in a preview tag against Yoshiki Inamura and GHC National Champion Naomichi Marufuji. Katsumi Inahata and Hiroto Tsuruya were also involved in the match. Fujita and Inamura started out. Inamura wanted a handshake, so Fujita slapped him around the face. Inamura returned the favour alongside some stiff forearms. They then got on the mat and grappled for a bit. It was awesome. That match is going to be awesome. This is the best use case of Fujita, hands down. Later in the match, Inamura chopped the crap out of rookie Tsuruya while staring at Fujita. God, it was great. They were bonking heads after the bell too. Just two bulls who do not want to give way.

Ahead of the big ladder match on 18th July, there was a three-way nine-person tag, Alpha Wolf, Jun Masaoka & Tadasuke vs. AMAKUSA, Daiki Odashima & Yuto Koyanagi vs. Kid Lykos, Kid Lykos II & Super Crazy. Lykos got the pin and demanded Lykos Gym join the ladder match. Tadasuke said no, but we all know that means they’re going to anyway.

Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI, RYUSEI & Tetsuya Naito) opened the show against Dragon Bane, rookie Midori Takahashi and Tetsuya Endo. Naito tapped out the rookie to win the match.

8th July 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Daiki Odashima vs. Tetsuya Naito

© NOAH

Luckily for me I was at a NOAH show in Shinjuku FACE on 3rd May so I feel at peace with saying that this was the last ever NOAH show at Shinjuku FACE. This show was headlined by a battle royale. Yuto Koyanagi was one of the last two left, and actually helped Kaito Kiyomiya eliminate Tetsuya Endo. That was a pretty perfect usage of who I think is the best out of the rookie class – getting a big moment with Kaito in front of a molten hot Shinjuku FACE crowd. I think when people say NOAH is awful, they aren’t watching shows like this. It was a very good show from top to bottom.

There were also some preview matches on this show, as Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI & RYUSEI) faced Eita & Katsumi Inahata. In the other preview tag, Passion MAX (Manabu Soya & Yuki Iino) & Shane Haste faced Team 2000X (Masa Kitamiya, OZAWA & Takashi Sugiura). Katsumi looked awesome against LTJ. Passion MAX is super over and a very successful tag team, and whoever came up with it is a genius. It’s not actually my exact cup of tea, yet I enjoy it, because it works and does what it says on the tin.

The future ace of perhaps not only NOAH’s junior heavyweight division but possibly more, Daiki Odashima, faced Tetsuya Naito in a singles match. Daiki was incredibly over. When Naito spat in Daiki’s face, Daiki returned the favour and slapped the shit out of Naito. There was so much heat for this match. When Daiki deadlifted Naito into a side suplex I thought the roof was going to blow off the place. Daiki almost pinned Naito with Rolling Olympic Rings of Hell – Part 0, but he had to submit to Naito’s own submission. Naito put him in a Liontamer after the match for more heat.

Hiroto Tsuruya and Midori Takahashi went to a time-limit draw, with Midori very popular with the crowd and putting in one of his best performances. While it looked like Midori was going to be left behind, performances like this put that into question. His selling in the heel hook and Boston crab as the time-limit approached was excellent.

18th May 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Titus Alexander

I had forgotten that “Monday Magic” season was coming about again, so when Miko Alana came out for the opener against Great Sakuya, I knew what would follow was all the other international talent currently housed by Chigusa Nagayo following Marvelous’s “10th Anniversary Show” at Yokohama BUNTAI. “Monday Magic” has its formula down to a tee, which I’m not sure it’s supposed to if it wants to keep the ‘magic’ aspect. Well, who knows, maybe there is someone there that thinks Miko Alana travelled half way across the road to appear in this show. Miko is great for her level of experience though so while the crowd weren’t sure who she was, she did great with Riko and will be getting cheered by the end of the series.

Hikaru Sato and Manabu Soya took on Ikuto Hidaka and GHC Hardcore Champion Masato Tanaka. It ended in a double count-out because it was to set up Hikaru challenging Tanaka for the title.

Dragongate rookie Jiro Shimbashi, the salaryman gimmick, faced Daiki Odashima. Daiki just wanted to wrestle, man. Well, Jiro could see that that was the case and so let Daiki wrestle him and Daiki completely destroyed Jiro on the mat. It was hilarious. While I had seen all of the other Jiro bits before, Daiki playing off of him and the initial grappling made this one stand out. It was pretty great.

Up next was a four-way between Eita, HAYATA, Kid Lykos II and Shuji Kondo, a match straight out of Hodogaya Public Hall. Eita caught a flash pin on Kid Lykos II, funnily enough the same way he almost got pinned by Alejandro the day before on a NOAH show (that’s probably not a coincidence, I imagine they are putting these matches together very shortly before they go out there and whatever happened recently is most on their mind and easiest to do).

Mayu Iwatani vacated the GHC Women’s Title due to her fractured toe injury. Immediately after, we had Mai Sakurai & Yuuka Yamazaki against Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha. I do like they switched it up from the usual Seri and Senka combination since that should be protected, and I’ve been calling for more Marigold youngsters to get involved in the inter-promotional rivalry and mix it up with Ai, Senka and Sora. There were some messy spots, especially from Mai, but I felt Senka and Yuuka carried the match home perfectly. Yuuka tried to get Senka off her after the Zenjo-style flash pin that won the match and Senka just pushed her arm away, so Yuuka just donkey kicked Senka off of her. It’s those little things that make you smile.

The main event was a Magic Rumble, featuring people from Europe, Sonny Onoo’s “Chosen One” tryouts, the international group touring with Marvelous, and a new Greek guy who previously toured with JTO in 2024. As Social Suplex regular oddjobs said,“Compare this one to the women’s rumble last season.” It really isn’t close. The women on these shows are consistently the best part of them, and it’s not even a bias I have. They just can’t, or don’t want to, book the male talent required for them to put on consistently great matches. Anyway, it was Archie Cole (Chosen One), Alejandro (NOAH), Alan Angels (Marvelous), Iker Navarro (European from previous seasons), Super Crazy (Super Crazy), Rich Port Ayala (Chosen One) and Reece Alexios (a Greek-Englishman). Alejandro won.

The main event did feel like a true “Monday Magic” match, you almost wish they did more of it. It was Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Titus Alexander, who had recently relocated to Japan full-time, not just for “Monday Magic” and the odd Marvelous tour here or there, he was working with Marvelous full-time for the foreseeable future. I’ve already complimented Titus enough over the last year in all my columns. He’s incredible and it’s a marvel (no pun intended) that one of the big two American companies haven’t picked him up. I mean, it’s all fine with me, but he would be a no-brainer for me and one of the best TV wrestlers. He’s actually a perfect TV wrestler. I don’t know about his promos, and I don’t need to. This match was obviously great with some sick spots such as Titus delivering a mid-air cutter to Kaito during his Skywalker Elbow. The time-limit expired just as Titus hit the Big Ugly. Titus should only just join All Rebellion. It would give that unit some juice. After the match, NOSAWA announced Archie Cole, Kaito and Titus against a DDT, Dragongate and New Japan wrestler at Universe Magic on 15th June.

25th May 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Mio Momono vs. Momoka Hanazono vs. Seri Yamaoka

The show opened up with Rich Port Ayala taking on Iker Navarro. I cannot report to you what happened during this match.

They announced Team NOSAWA vs. Team Alejandro at “Wrestle Magic” on 15th June at Korakuen Hall.

Next up was Mio Momono, Seri Yamaoka and Momoka Hanazono in a three-way match. Mio and Seri obviously have some inherent beef due to their promotions feuding for the past 15 months, so Mio enlisted Momoka to help her beat the crap out of Seri, with her bubble machine. After a misfire, it was all women for themselves. This match had, as usual, some great Momoka spots. Mio jumped on Seri’s back to land the JK Bomb (Code Red), but she spotted Momoka’s toy dog waddling its way into the ring. She screamed “Neko! Neko!” – which means cat, so now I know I’ve incorrectly been calling it a dog the entire time, but I am not changing it. She picked it up and ran to show Seri, “Look, it’s a cat!” Seri started playing with it, too, and then Momoka just sprinted and double dropkicked both. I am depressed that this did not get a pop inside the venue. Interspersed between the fun Momoka gimmicks was all three women going hard in the paint, dropping each other on their heads with German suplexes. The finish was Momoka running to hit a party popper in Mio’s face to knock her off the turnbuckle, but then Seri immediately yanked Momoka into the deadly German suplex and Aoki clutch combination for the three-count. Great stuff.

The Brahman Brothers (Kei & Shu) took on AMAKUSA & Kenoh. They’re the guys that throw water everywhere on the independent scene, so much so you normally need to wear a waterproof plastic cover. They all have a connection through Michinoku Pro. Well, they got disqualified immediately by throwing powder into AMAKUSA, Kenoh and the referees’ faces.

MIRAI will face Great Sakuya for the GHC Women’s Title previously held by Mayu Iwatani before she vacated it due to injury.

After Titus Alexander’s match with Kaito Kiyomiya last week, it was Alan Angels’ turn to lose to Kaito this week.

HAYATA & Titus Alexander faced British duo Archie Cole & Reece Alexios in a fun match that showed off how athletic Archie was. We already knew Titus is one of the best around, but Archie looked great and I was impressed that Reece landed a corkscrew splash, even if it missed slightly.

Hikaru Sato won the GHC Hardcore Title from Masato Tanaka in the main event. After the main event, Shuji Ishikawa and Daisuke Sekimoto showed up to challenge Sato for his new title.

8th June 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

In the main event, Fuminori Abe & Yuya Aoki faced Kaito Kiyomiya & Titus Alexander. It was the first match on the show that caught my attention. (You will likely be able to tell from the lack of notes on everything else here. Typically, if I don’t have a lot of notes, just assume nothing noteworthy happened.) This was pretty damn good, as you can imagine. It sounds weird or a bit unbelievable, but Titus literally is improving before my eyes over the past year that I’ve been watching his performances in Japan. He was good to start with, but he’s somehow becoming even more athletic and more importantly, believable. I love my flippy guys, but Titus isn’t just that. While not on the same scale, it’s a bit like Ospreay’s transformation which took place over a decade. Titus does still no-sell a lot, but it’s a lot better than it was before. Kaito has been a breath of fresh air on these “Monday Magic” shows and adds a lot of much-needed quality to them.

“Monday Magic” trio Archie Cole, Iker Navarro and Reece Alexios took on Hiroshi Yamato, Shigehiro Irie and Masaaki Mochizuki. Yamato was making his “Monday Magic” debut. He’s a 2AW guy who is based in Chiba and I’ve actually seen him wrestle at 2AW Square, which is just a warehouse in Chiba. He was great. Archie Cole got the win here. Iker Navarro injured his knee during this match.

ZONES faced off against Johnnie Robbie in a singles match. It was scheduled to be a tag match but Great Sakuya was attacked by MIRAI during her entrance ahead of their clash for the GHC Women’s Title bout at “Wrestle Magic 2026”. After the match, Johnnie’s American compatriot, Miko Alana, came out and attacked ZONES, Miyuki Takase came out to save ZONES, then Nightshade (who is on tour with Marvelous) came out to save the Marvelous-American duo. Finally, Marigold World Champion Miku Aono ran out to attack Nightshade, as they had a Marigold World Title bout scheduled in June at Korakuen Hall on a Marigold show. This also led to a six-woman tag on “Wrestle Magic 2026”. That all made sense, I suppose. I’m not used to that on “Monday Magic”.

One of Sonny Onoo’s “Chosen Ones” Rich Port Ayala lost to former GHC Heavyweight Champion Yoshiki Inamura in a singles match.

Daisuke Sekimoto and Shuji Ishikawa had a preview match ahead of their GHC Hardcore Title match, but they were teaming together against Black Menso-re and Kikutaro.

In the opener, we had Hide Kubota & Yasu Kubota (ZERO1) vs. Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto (BASARA/666) vs. Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II (UK independent talent).

15th June 2026
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Archie Cole, Kaito Kiyomiya & Titus Alexander vs. Chris Brookes, Luis Mante & Zack Sabre Jr.

© NOAH

In the main event, the “Monday Magic” trio of Archie Cole, Kaito Kiyomiya and Titus Alexander faced Chris Brookes, Luis Mante and Zack Sabre Jr. All three of the latter wrestlers were unannounced. While all got a big reaction, Zack got an amazing reaction, with some people in the crowd shaking with excitement. Zack and Kaito were great, continuing the longstanding NOAH and New Japan rivalry, going at each other with full-throated attacks each time they were in the ring with each other. Two of the best Brits to wrestle in Japan long-term, Zack and Chris, were also ruthless to their young fellow countryman, Archie. It was great. This match had a lot of hard-hitting sequences, but I did feel it missed the peak slightly and went a bit too long as I did start to zone out.

MIRAI won the vacant GHC Women’s Title, defeating Great Sakuya (Riko Kawahata) in the main event. The title was vacated by Mayu Iwatani due to her toe injury sustained in April. While I’ve never enjoyed Riko doing a gimmick because I think she’s one of the best wrestlers in the scene, she was a bit unhinged here and shoot-headbutted MIRAI, giving her a small hematoma on her forehead. The crowd began chanting for MIRAI as Riko kept kicking her in the face, angering her further. This was an intense moment in the match and helped it a lot. MIRAI was about to win with the Miramare Shock but Riko misted her to break up the pin and apparently the referee had no idea what happened. There were some great nearfalls before MIRAI took Riko’s head off with a lariat for the win.

A trio of Monday Magic regulars (Danny Duggan, Reece Alexios & Rich Port Ayala) took on the NOAH, DDT and Dragongate trio of HAYATA, MAO and Riiita. I would say that this match was a waste of Riiita, but then it’s not like he’s getting utilised any better in Dragongate. Danny Duggan wasn’t on any regular “Monday Magic” episode, but he wouldn’t miss a season for the world, so he got his one appearance a season in (yes, I’m counting this as the finale to the second season).

Shuji Ishikawa won the vacant GHC Hardcore Title, defeating Daisuke Sekimoto. Hikaru Sato vacated the title due to sustaining a serious injury on Season 2 Episode 2 (more info under the “Hard Hit Pro Wrestling” heading in the Miscellaneous News Japanese Independents section). As you can expect, this was pretty good. The only hardcore spots were pretty brutal, like throwing chairs directly in Sekimoto’s face. Other than that, it was mostly just a standard singles match between two bad dudes beating the heck out of each other.

Marigold World Champion Miku Aono, Miyuki Takase and ZONES beat the gaijin trio of Johnnie Robbie, Miko Alana & Nightshade. This also built towards the Miku and Nightshade match on the 20th June Marigold Korakuen.

In the opener Daichi Hashimoto & Fuminori Abe faced Daiki Odashima & Naomichi Marufuji. It was hilarious to see the contrast between how Abe wrestled Daiki and how Hashimoto did. Hashimoto, in a fashion typical of him, tried to big league Daiki and sandbag his wrestling, so Daiki just shoot-lifted him up in a gutwrench before slamming him back down. Abe was his usual awesome self, rolling all over the mat with Daiki. Daiki did end up looking good wrestling Daichi, but I am not sure it was due to Daichi’s cooperation. It seemed more like a sheer force of will from Daiki. This was a great opener.

Four legendary masked wrestlers (Hayabusa, The Great Sasuke, Tsubasa & Ultimo Dragon) and Alejandro faced FUJITA, MAZADA, Shuji Kondo, Takuya Sugawara & YASSHI.

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

• Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi vs. Mizuki & Uta Takami – 7th June at Korakuen Hall
• Aja Kong vs. Arisu Endo – 18th July at Korakuen Hall
• Miyu Yamashita vs. Yuki Arai – 18th July at Korakuen Hall
• Haru Kazashiro vs. MIRAI – 7th June at Korakuen Hall
• Chris Brookes vs. Mizuki – 18th July at Korakuen Hall

30th May 2026
Azalea Taisho Hall, Osaka, Japan

In the main event in Osaka it was an all-preview tag. Princess of Princess Champion Yuki Arai, International Princess Champion Suzume and Princess Tag Team Champions Daydream (Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi) faced their upcoming challengers on the 7th June show: Yuki Kamifuku, Mahiro Kiryu, Mizuki & Uta Takami respectively. There’s one move that Arai keeps doing that needs to be rethought. She runs the ropes and then does the splits on her opponent, but it always looks awkward and here she missed the move completely. Uta Takami looked incredible and the tag match at Korakuen Hall was guaranteed to be good.

Miyu Yamashita & Toga took on Shoko Nakajima & Wakana Uehara. Miyu and Shoko are long-term adversaries and currently they run training sessions together for people wanting to get into wrestling, so it’s always a joy to see them wrestle each other. Miyu also looked supreme here kicking the crap out of Wakana. She is still so damn awesome. It is crazy it feels like she is still in her prime but is very much out of the spotlight in TJPW. Wakana looked good in this match, which strengthens the theory that Kamiyu was not a good fit with Wakana. Toga pinned Wakana with the Rock Bottom, finally getting a win against her ahead of their singles match at Korakuen Hall.

Then we had Haru Kazashiro & Yuki Aino taking on Chika Nanase & HIMAWARI. I think Chika is improving. But every time she does her full-nelson hold, I’m like, “Okay, now slam her backwards into a dragon suplex!” Then I remember it’s TJPW. Chika, you know you want to go into the Indie Zone. It’s your destiny. She tapped out to Haru moments after lifting her up in the full-nelson.

Pom Harajuku & Raku continued their run of terror on the undercard. They climbed to the balcony in the venue, taunted Hyper Misao & Kira Summer so that they chased them, and then tied them up in a banner, ran downstairs and had the bell ring to try to win by count out. When that failed, they wrestled the way they knew best, causing havoc, distractions and any tactics they could to win. If they teamed with Little Goblins (Kaori Yoneyama, Momoka Hanazono & Ram Kaicho) in OZ Academy I think they would definitely be the most annoying five-woman group in the world. Pom pinned Kira with the Pom de Justice. I think they are gearing up for a title shot given how many wins they are stacking up.

Rookie Shion Kanzaki faced Arisu Endo in the opener. This is probably the most fun I had watching Shion, partly because of her improvement but mostly because Arisu is just awesome. She’s typically great in the underdog role, but she’s also a pretty good bully!

Arisu Endo, Kira Summer & Sakura Hattori defeat Ren Konatsu, Shion Kanzaki & Yuki Aino (10:11)

YuuRI defeats Chika Nanase (8:15)

Wakana Uehara defeats Toga (8:58)

MIRAI defeats Haru Kazashiro (10:15)

Kyoraku Kyomei (Hyper Misao & Shoko Nakajima) defeat HIMAWARI & Mifu Ashida and Pom Harajuku & Raku (8:42)

DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Title:
Shoko Nakajima defeats Sumire Uesaka (c)
DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Title:
Hyper Misao defeats Shoko Nakajima (c)
DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Title:
Pom Harajuku defeats Hyper Misao (c)
DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Title:
Kazuki Hirata defeats Pom Harajuku (c)

International Princess Title:
Suzume (c) defeats Mahiro Kiryu (14:49)

Princess Tag Team Title:
Hakuchumu (Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi) (c) defeat Mizuki & Uta Takami (18:51)

Princess Of Princess Title:
Yuki Arai (c) defeats Yuki Kamifuku (16:41)

13th June 2026
Yokohama Radiant Hall, Kanagawa, Japan

© TJPW

The preview matches for “Summer Sun Princess ‘26” began at a fully sold-out show in Yokohama. In the main event the Princess of Princess Champion Yuki Arai teamed up with Haru Kazashiro & Yuki Aino against Arai’s next challenger Miyu Yamashita, alongside Kira Summer & Sakura Hattori. Yuki Arai’s clunkiness in the ring isn’t a problem for me. I do not think every wrestler needs to be a Bryan Danielson or a Miu Watanabe, and for Arai, that clunkiness suits her character. The issue is that some of that clunkiness is actually greenness, and after two hundred matches there is a distinction worth drawing. The example of that in this preview match was a spot where Miyu swept her leg and Arai should’ve taken a flat front bump, but instead she sort of stayed in place and forced Miyu to repeat the spot. It is not a major thing in isolation, but it happens consistently enough to notice. How long it takes her to clean those moments up remains to be seen. None of this, however, changes my view on the Princess of Princess Title reign. Arai is an important champion for the company, and there is no need for Miyu to take it from her. As for the match itself, there were some good moments. The standout spot came when Arai was on the verge of hitting the Finally axe kick on Kira Summer and Miyu bicycle kicked Arai’s foot away mid-move. Arai then tapped out Kira Summer while staring directly at Yamashita, which – amazingly – is a repeat spot from the Miu Watanabe preview matches. Back in Okayama on 22nd February, Arai tapped out Kira in a scorpion deathlock while locking eyes with Miu Watanabe. It is clearly how she likes to start this kind of build, and it works every time. The mind games begin!

In the semi-main event Kyoraku Kyomei (Hyper Misao & Shoko Nakajima) brought Raku along for their preview match against the Princess Tag Team Champions Daydream (Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi) and Ren Konatsu. Last year, Miu and Shoko had my #2 MOTY. I loved that match so much. Miu is also just my wrestler. Her winning the title at “Grand Princess ‘24” was the reason I started watching TJPW, as it was my first TJPW show. So, I will always be excited to see those two wrestle each other, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the preview tags and the match itself. Konatsu appears to have dropped the Aries Comet as her finisher, as it was just a normal spot here. She transitioned into a facelock after, but it’s mostly not presented as a big finishing move anymore. She’s a rookie and still working stuff out, but I did think it was a cool finisher. There were a lot of cool counters or dramatic moments she could do with that move, like an opponent desperately knocking her off the ropes and whatnot. During the match, Kyomei taped Daydream to some chairs, so Daydream had to climb into the ring with chairs on them to break up a hold on Konatsu. There was a rare accidental chair shot from Rika to Miu, which led to Misao picking up the win on Konatsu.

Following their International Princess Title bout on the previous show, Ojimago (Mahiro Kiryu & Suzume) teamed up against Chika Nanase & Wakana Uehara as a preview match for Suzume and Wakana’s own International Princess match in July. Suzume hit a Ring A Bell on a kneeling Chika before staring right at Wakana and following up with a full power Ring A Bell and pinning Chika. She then immediately turned to all smiles as the referee held her hand up. Suzume really is the best.

21st June 2026
Chunichi Hall, Aichi, Japan

© TJPW

The preview tags between Miyu Yamashita and Princess of Princess Champion Yuki Arai continued in the main event, with the inclusion of TJPW’s rookies, Shion Kanzaki and Ren Konatsu, who paired with Miyu and Yuki respectively. This was a good main event. As part of the story, Yuki locked in the Scorpion Deathlock at one stage, though it was broken up quickly. Yuki’s running knee drop remains a problem, it looks rough every time she uses it. Ren came away with the win over Kanzaki, continuing her edge over her fellow rookie. Shion showed a lot of fire in this match.

As Yuki cut her post-match promo, Ren was moved to tears; this was their first time teaming together since her debut, and she has been open about discovering TJPW as a fan of Yuki through SKE48. The location added to it, too; this show was in Nagoya, the same city where Yuki graduated from SKE48 at an event held in collaboration with the group last year. At one point, Ren brought her ‘idol-fan’ side out, flicking her hair and skirt before charging at Shion in the corner, a small touch that got a good reaction from the crowd. Backstage, Yuki reiterated that her main focus through the preview matches is continuing to land the Scorpion Deathlock on Miyu, the same hold on the same person that took her to a number one contendership for Miu Watanabe’s title back in January and set her on this current path. Ren, for her part, described herself as Yuki’s “little angel” going forward, someone who will fight for, protect and comfort her. She noted she was still a trainee when Yuki graduated from SKE48, but that the two have known each other for several years.

For the preview matches for the Princess Tag Team Title, Miu Watanabe faced Hyper Misao and Rika Tatsumi took on Shoko Nakajima in singles matches. The story heading into this one was that the challengers, Kyoraku Kyomei, did not actually want the title shot. Misao entered carrying the Princess Tag Title contract she had stolen three days earlier, telling the crowd, “This feels like some kind of preview tag match, doesn’t it?” before refusing the challenge once again and announcing she would boycott the match just as she had boycotted the press conference, then running off. Her return turned out to be a ploy to wrap Miu up in the apron, but Miu reversed it, wrapping Misao in the apron guard herself and hitting a giant swing with her still tangled in it. Miu was rolled up for the win, allowing Misao to keep hold of the contract. Then, in the Rika and Shoko singles match, they went to a 15-minute time-limit draw, and a good one. The opening stretch was technical and mat based, with both wrestlers trading wrist control and working through transitions. Rika then turned her attention to Shoko’s leg, hitting several sharp dragon screws, including one from the top rope, and the match built to a string of strong nearfalls before time ran out. Backstage, the draw left Shoko with even less confidence about facing Daydream for the Princess Tag Titles, and she snatched the contract away from Misao and walked off. Rika, meanwhile, sent Miu off to train further after her loss, noting that she herself had at least managed a draw.

Daisy Monkey (Arisu Endo & Suzume) defeated Kira Summer & Wakana Uehara, in a match previewing the International Princess Title bout at “Summer Sun Princess ‘26”. It played out about as expected with Wakana holding her own in singles-orientated exchanges. Kira Summer continues to get over in her own right, too, landing a shoulder tackle that sent Suzume flying and drew an audible gasp from the crowd. At this point, every wrestler getting in the ring with Suzume should be buying her dinner afterwards.

Despite a setback from losing the Princess Tag Team Title match at Korakuen Hall on 7th June, Mizuki & Uta Takami bounced back with a win over Raku & Yuki Kamifuku.

Mahiro Kiryu, Pom Harajuku and Sakura Hattori had a “World Cup” inspired three-way. Kiryu had a massive football that she brought to the ring. They played football where the red corner would act as the goal. Kiryu scored a goal, but then while distracted was rolled up by Hattori.

27th June 2026
Ryogoku KFC Hall, Tokyo, Japan

© TJPW

The main event was champions against challengers; well, sort of, as POP Champion Yuki Arai, IP Champion Suzume and POP Tag Team Champions Daydream (Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi) faced Miyu Yamashita, Wakana Uehara and Kyoraku Kyomei (Hyper Misao & Shoko Nakajima). I say “sort of” because up to this point, Kyomei had not yet accepted the title match and were being chased by the champions to accept. That changed by the end of the night. Shoko pinned Rika, and the result finally gave Misao and Shoko the courage to sign, only for Rika to reveal backstage that she’d let the pin happen on purpose specifically to get them to commit, walking Kyoraku Kyomei straight into Daydream’s trap. The match itself was excellent, with the usual Miu and Shoko chemistry on full display, including a moment where Miu pulled Shoko off a pin on Rika and straight into a Canadian backbreaker. The timing between the two of them throughout was as sharp as it always is, and it’s hard not to expect the actual title match to be very good given this.

The Yuki and Miyu side of the card also had a strong showing. Yuki locked in the Scorpion Deathlock cleanly on Miyu and looked, for a moment, like the wide eyed, hugely expressive version of herself from the Watanabe feud: her strikes were harder, her selling was sharper, and the transition into the hold was well put together. It’s the best she’s looked across this entire build. Suzume and Wakana were the weaker link on the show by comparison, neither getting much of a spotlight nor generating much investment in what they were doing, though Wakana’s silent, tearful reaction after the match hit hard.

Mizuki took on rookie Ren Konatsu in a good singles match which showcased Ren’s potential, who I still believe just gets wrestling, from the way she sells to the way she emotes and portrays her character.

Chika Nanase teamed with her indie friend, YuuRI, against Sakura Hattori and Yuki Kamifuku. I’ve already written about Chika being more of the indie variety than a traditional TJPW wrestler, so it’s interesting she’s been paired with YuuRI on a house show. Maybe they are starting to realise the same.

Arisu Endo paired up with rookie Shion Kanzaki against Toga & Uta Takami. This match was pretty great, especially for a TJPW house show undercard match. Toga was really convincing in her bully role against Shion. This is a role I think Toga could excel in and take over from Miyu Yamashita in the upcoming years. Then, Uta was just as delightful as ever to watch when working with Arisu Endo, doing all the cool stuff you expect her to, but never get tired of seeing her execute it.

4th July 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

© TJPW

The main event brought together the regular tag teams of Kyoto Tag Team (my made up team name for Mifu Ashida & Yuki Arai) against Miyu Yamashita & Sakura Hattori, who are still teaming together despite Sakura’s gimmick change. This was a preview for the Princess of Princess Title. Sakura continues to grow into the new gimmick, still hitting the diving elbow but delivering it more quickly now, with her opponents better at staying down until the right moment, which makes the spot land better than it used to. Miyu developed a way to counter the scorpion with a rear naked choke. The exchanges between Mifu and Miyu were a highlight, and Mifu has grown on me considerably over the past six months. Miyu’s skull kick to Yuki Arai towards the end of the match made me almost jump out of my seat, and she followed it by immediately submitting Mifu, looking like a monster in this match. This was another strong preview tag, one of the best three on the show, and left me more excited for “Summer Sun Princess” than I was after the last Korakuen Hall event. This show also made me realise how well TJPW’s undercard is building nicely around the 2023 class, with HIMAWARI, Shino Suzuki, Toga, Mifu Ashida and Haru Kazashiro all showing promise.

HIMAWARI & Daydream (Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi) took on Yuki Aino & Kyoraku Kyomei (Hyper Misao & Shoko Nakajima) in a Princess Tag Team Title preview, now that the challenge had been made official. More HIMAWARI in these types of spots would be welcome. Miu and Shoko, as explained many times in these TJPW reviews, are a pair of wrestling soulmates, with Miu’s reversal of the 619 into a teardrop for the finish making me just shake my head in disbelief. This was another good preview, with even Hyper Misao, who is not usually a favourite of mine, putting in the work.

Daisy Monkey (Arisu Endo & Suzume) met 2023 classmates Toga & Wakana Uehara in an International Princess Title preview. This was the strongest of the previews between Suzume and Wakana so far, though still a notch below the ones building towards the tag titles and the Princess of Princess title. Suzume tapped out to the Banana Pillow.

Mahiro Kiryu and Pom Harajuku faced Mizuki and Uta Takami, with Pom marking Tanabata, the Japanese summer festival where wishes are written on paper and hung from bamboo. That same bamboo was later put to use as a weapon in the match.

Kira Summer, Raku and Yuki Kamifuku followed in a three way that read as Kamiyu simply enjoying herself ahead of her retirement.

Chika Nanase and Haru Kazashiro opened the show against Ren Konatsu and Shion Kanzaki. Chika turned in one of her stronger performances, with sharp strikes, good intensity and solid back and forth with Shion through the match. Haru and Ren were excellent too, making for a good opener overall.

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

• Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO vs. Shota Kofuji & Yuma Anzai – 19th July at Korakuen Hall (My AJPW #1 MOTY)
• Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Shota Kofuji & Yuma Anzai – 29th May at Shin-Kiba 1st RING
• Dan Tamura vs. Seigo Tachibana – 18th June at Korakuen Hall
• Shota Kofuji & Yuma Anzai vs. Yasutaka Yano & Yuma Aoyagi – 24th June at Shin-Kiba 1st RING
• Jun Saito & Rei Saito vs. Ren Ayabe & Talos – 6th June at NIKKO Arena Kakuda
• Go Shiozaki & Yuma Anzai vs. Suwama & Yuma Aoyagi – 18th June at Korakuen Hall

29th May 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Shota Kofuji & Yuma Anzai

© AJPW

Another Shin-Kiba show, another great watch from top to bottom (excluding the opener which I will not go over for obvious reasons as it involves Yasutaka Yano). These shows never miss for me, and even when people were out on All Japan, these shows were still really good but went under the radar because it’s common to just follow the big shows. The main event was a chaotic match which the crowd were going absolutely ballistic for. It was a preview tag for the AJPW World Tag Team Title and the Triple Crown Title as Hideki Suzuki, Ren Ayabe & Talos faced Jun Saito, Kento Miyahara & Rei Saito. It was just screeching and shouting from the fans as the wrestlers brawled, with bits such as Rei Saito biting chunks out of Ren Ayabe’s entrance gown. It was a lot of fun.

Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuma Aoyagi took on Shota Kofuji & Yuma Anzai. Surprisingly, even after Anzai’s burst in popularity, Yuma had more calls than him when they locked up. Despite his suspension, Yuma remains as popular as ever. During one spot, Yuma attempted to land on his feet but his left knee buckled and he immediately went down. After rolling out of the ring for a bit, he continued with the match, selling the knee like his life depended on it. I couldn’t actually tell if it was a work or not. Referee Kyohei Wada would not take his eyes off that knee when Yuma was continuing, so I thought Yuma legitimately hurt his knee but not enough to stop wrestling. He was hobbling on it. It did massively increase my investment in the match, with Yuma crawling to try and get the tag but Anzai lifting him up on the knee and slamming it into the mat. That was when I figured it was a work and couldn’t believe it because it was so well done. Or maybe Anzai is just a psychopath. It was even crazier because you’d expect Anzai to be the babyface-in-peril following his popularity spike, but he played the heel destroying Yuma. Later, when Yuma and Kofuji wrestled each other, Yuma looked like he was moving much better on that knee, and he did kip-ups for fun to show everyone he was fine after the victory, so it must’ve been a work. It was honestly really cool watching it live and not knowing. To be honest, I still don’t know. I don’t know how it holds up watching it on replay.

Kuma Arashi defeated Ryo Inoue in a singles match. The crowd were fully behind Inoue, but I would have preferred Inoue against another member of the roster in front of this always-hot Shin-Kiba crowd.

HAVOC (MUSASHI, Shotari Ashino & Xyon) faced AtsuHaya (Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO) and former HAVOC member Go Shiozaki. Shiozaki left after his loss in the Champion Carnival final, while MUSASHI is mostly in there as a comedy bit for now but I imagine it will be made official. Shiozaki took MUSASHI’s head off for the win. Good start.

Dan Tamura & Hokuto Omori faced Up Town rookie Hyo Ogawa and AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion Seigo Tachibana. This was pretty great. Their match for the title was scheduled for 18th June before the Champion Carnival tournament even took place, so they have been wrestling each other on the undercards for months. While I hadn’t seen all of those matches given how many tournament matches there were to keep up with, this was my first true glimpse and it confirmed what I already knew – that their match was going to be great. It was hard-hitting, heated and to the point. Hokuto and Hyo were also fun, as Hokuto pulled an “oh shit” face after getting chopped once by the rookie. Hokuto provided good comedy relief in-between Dan and Tachibana beating the crap out of each other.

31st May 2026
ES Central Sports Park Hanamomo Gymnasium, Ibaraki, Japan

The challengers for their respective titles, Hideki Suzuki & The Saito Brothers (Jun Saito & Rei Saito) faced off against the champions Kento Miyahara & Titans of Calamity (Ren Ayabe & Talos). This was your classic All Japan house show main event with the first ten minutes revolving around crowd brawling.

Yuma Aoyagi and AtsuHaya (Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO) fought Dan Tamura, Shota Kofuji & Yuma Anzai. This was yet another match high up the card for Kofuji and this match was essentially built around him. He was bullied and isolated from his team with the crowd calling his name, hoping he could steal a victory against Yuma on the closing stretch. This was a great house show match.

Ryuki Honda got a rare win over a HAVOC member, pinning Xyon with Final Vent in a tag match.

Hokuto Omori wrestled as a young boy against his stablemate Jack Kennedy. The storyline right now is: Hokuto sucks. He got the upset victory over Jack Kennedy.

Former BJW talent Yuya Aoki made his third ever All Japan appearance teaming with Masayuki Kono against Mu-chan & Sei-chan (MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka). Aoki actually got the surprise pin on MUSASHI here and celebrated wildly jumping all over the place. It’s not like MUSASHI holds a title, so I was pretty surprised at this, unless Aoki is coming in full-time.

Ryo Inoue lost to Toshiyuki Sakuda in the opener in a leg hold. Inoue was going for a kick but seemed to buckle and fell to the ground. Sakuda locked in a leg hold shortly after which Inoue submitted to after talking to the referee. I cannot imagine the plan was for independent wrestler Sakuda to actually beat their rising young star and indeed it was not. Inoue was carried off on the back of a second. It was later announced that Inoue would miss All Japan’s shows from 6th June (Kakuda) onwards due to a left knee ACL injury.

6th June 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 2,118
NIKKO Arena Kakuda, Miyagi, Japan
Recommended Match: Jun Saito & Rei Saito vs. Ren Ayabe & Talos

© AJPW

In a show that had to be cancelled in October 2025 due to Rei Saito’s unfortunate injury, All Japan finally re-ran a show in the Saito Brothers’ (Jun & Rei Saito) hometown in Kakuda, Miyagi, situated in the north of Japan. So strong is All Japan’s record there that I constantly predicted Jun or Rei to win back the Triple Crown Title so they could do a brother vs. brother showdown for the biggest prize there. I’m pretty sure that that’s what was going to happen in October before Rei’s injury. Instead, they fell back to their old reliable, the World Tag Team Title, repeating the title switch they did in Kakuda in October 2023, ending the show on a happy ending. Instead of Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi, this time they dethroned Titans of Calamity (Ren Ayabe & Talos) in the main event. They lost to them previously in March 2026, so I thought they had moved away from the tag title switch for Kakuda, but of course, that was just a precursor to them getting a win back.

This match was pretty wild. Initially, as anyone could figure out they’d do, there was an extended brawl to start off proceedings, with the Titans beating up the Saitos all around the arena. The hometown crowd were losing their minds during this, especially as Titans threatened to throw them over the balcony. I have no idea why this wasn’t a double count out. Referee discretion, I guess? The heat for this match was off the charts for pretty much the entire duration. Every single time a Titan picked up a Saito, the crowd would scream at the top of their lungs. I thought that it could not get any louder, but then the finishing stretch took place with big finishers, kickouts and huge avalanche slams. But, it was never in doubt, and the Saitos took the win with a chokeslam & BBQ Bomb combination from the top rope.

Elsewhere on the show there were some preview tags and strong undercard tag matches. The first was a Triple Crown & Junior World Title preview match between Dan Tamura, Hideki Suzuki & Masa Kono and Kento Miyahara, Ryuki Honda & Seigo Tachibana. Hideki and Kento tired each other out by brawling so much, taking a brief moment to relax on some fan’s seats side-by-side. This match was largely about the World Junior Heavyweight Title match that has been building for almost two months. Despite that, Tachibana is still ridiculously over with the crowd chanting for him constantly. Although, it is a bit like watching a trailer that spoils the whole movie. I didn’t even catch any of their Champion Carnival undercard preview matches and I feel like I’ve seen them wrestle five times since the end of the tournament. It will still be good, but damn. That’s a long build.

One of the most anticipated matches on the card for me was the Aoyagi brothers (Atsuki & Yuma Aoyagi) taking on Shota Kofuji & Yuma Anzai. Anzai has been popular in the big arenas since his The Bachelorette appearances and both the Aoyagis and Kofuji are also popular, so I was expecting some heat here. In the reverse situation to the Shin-Kiba show, the Aoyagis were aggressive here and worked Kofuji over. Yuma (Aoyagi) against Anzai & Kofuji has been a fun little undercard feud over the preceding weeks and it was no different here. Yuma beat Kofuji.

Go Shiozaki joined up with Daisuke Sekimoto to defeat his former HAVOC teammates (Shotaro Ashino & Xyon). Go dropped Xyon with the Gowan lariat to put a final gap between him and his former unit.

AIZAWA NO. 1 tried to prove to Hokuto Omori that he was strong enough to help Hokuto continue on with the Hokuto Army unit. In order to do that, he decided to challenge former Hokuto Army member Kuma Arashi for his GAORA TV Title, where if he was to lose, the Hokuto Army was likely over. AIZAWA was getting destroyed by Arashi, but there was a slow-burn comeback that got the crowd completely on his side. They almost blew the roof off the place when he hit a lariat to finally topple Arashi. From that sense, this was a really successful undercard match. Of course, Arashi still won, so we’ll see what happens with the Hokuto Army in upcoming shows.

One of the best wrestlers on the roster in 2025, Rising HAYATO, was in an early match on the card teaming with Makoto Oishi against Mu-chan & Sei-chan (MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka). It feels like a bit of a waste of HAYATO on a match in front of so many people but oh, well.

7th June 2026
Yamagata Big Wing, Yamagata, Japan

In the main event Evolution (Dan Tamura, Hideki Suzuki & Suwama) defended their AJPW TV Six Man Tag Team Title against the “Ex-WRESTLE-1” trio of Kuma Arashi, Ryuki Honda & Seigo Tachibana. This did also serve as yet another preview tag between Dan and Seigo for the World Junior Heavyweight Title. Naturally, the Dan and Tachibana portions were the best parts of this match. Just two dudes wanting to take each other’s head off after months and months of fighting, and seemingly they still aren’t bored of it. The fans in Yamagata were excited for this match, with a lot of heat for the match throughout. Tachibana won the titles for his team by hitting the running elbow strike to the back of Tamura’s head. So, your WRESTLE-1 trio are the new AJPW TV Six Man Tag Team Champions.

Following AIZAWA’s failure to defeat Kuma Arashi on the prior show, AIZAWA decided to try and force Hokuto Omori to keep the unit going himself by taking him on in a singles match. Well, he failed again and Hokuto won. We will see if he fought hard enough for Hokuto to give the unit another chance. The backstage segment was hilarious because Hokuto was cutting an emotional promo about the unit and then you just hear Kento’s music in the background. In a storyline about how overlooked and overshadowed Hokuto is, it’s hard to believe it was not deliberate.

The rest of the matches on the show were very standard house show matches with nothing to note.

11th June 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Go Shiozaki, who had recently left HAVOC, faced Xyon in the main event in a special singles match. This was essentially a “Goodbye, HAVOC” match for the now factionless Shiozaki. It was an inoffensive, solid match, mostly generating all of its heat from how many spots they did outside the ring. When they spent around ten minutes outside of the ring, I did think that this may be a Falls Count Anywhere match, but All Japan does this quite often, even as recently as five days prior when The Saito Brothers won the AJPW World Tag Team Championship in Kakuda. But. This match went over 20 minutes. Totally unnecessary. Also, the finish was a Gowan lariat counter to Xyon’s diving headbutt, but Xyon clearly wasn’t going to do a diving headbutt and positioned perfectly for the lariat. He basically just jumped right into it.

Evolution (Hideki Suzuki, Kengo Mashimo & Suwama) & Yuya Aoki faced Triple Crown Champion Kento Miyahara, Shotaro Ashino and Mu-chan & Sei-chan (MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka). This was a fun match, in particular freelancer and former BJW wrestler Yuya Aoki had a significant shine, getting quite over with the All Japan crowd. Kento won with the Shutdown Suplex. Do I really need to type that anymore?

Carbell Ito & The Aoyagis (Atsuki Aoyagi & Yuma Aoyagi) faced Rising HAYATO & Titans of Calamity (Ren Ayabe & Talos). The Titans used HAYATO as a sack of meat, chokeslamming him into Atsuki. This reminded me of their World’s Strongest Tag League match last year. Not in a good way. HAYATO is one of the most underrated people on the roster, but you wouldn’t know it.

Following AIZAWA NO.1’s losses, first to Kuma Arashi and then to Hokuto Omori himself, Hokuto-gun had already disbanded. To drive the nail in the coffin, Hokuto had a singles match against another former Hokuto-gun member, Takashi. After Hokuto won the match, he said that he loved Hokuto-gun and one day he would reform the unit, but for now, he wanted to get stronger by himself. Takashi said that Hokuto would always be his leader.

The former and current GAORA TV Champions, Daisuke Sekimoto & Kuma Arashi respectively, lost to the AJPW World Tag Team Champions The Saito Brothers (Jun & Rei Saito) as Rei got the pin on Arashi, possibly setting up a title shot in future.

In their 14th and final preview tag since Dan Tamura pinned and set up a Junior World Heavyweight Title match in March, he and Seigo Tachibana went at it one final time before the big show at Korakuen Hall. Dan teamed with Masayuki Kono while Tachibana was with his Up Town junior, rookie Hyo Ogawa. Tachibana got the flash pin on Dan. After the match they both agreed to put on a match that only the two of them could. Well, I think we’ve seen so many variations that they would have to really go to a world class level to shock us.

Fuminori Abe, Hokuto Omori, Masayuki Kono, Yasutaka Yano & Yuya Aoki defeat Hyo Ogawa, MUSASHI, Seiki Yoshioka, Shota Kofuji & Xyon (7:22)

AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title:
Dan Tamura defeats Seigo Tachibana (c) (21:24)

Titans Of Calamity (Ren Ayabe & Talos), Daisuke Sekimoto & Kengo Mashimo defeat Saito Brothers (Jun Saito & Rei Saito), Kuma Arashi & Ryuki Honda by referee’s decision (13:11)

NWA World Heavyweight Title:
Silas Mason (c) defeats Shotaro Ashino (7:10)

Go Shiozaki & Yuma Anzai defeat Suwama & Yuma Aoyagi (16:28)

All Asia Tag Team Title:
Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO defeat Gajadokuro (ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato) (c) (19:04)

Triple Crown Title:
Kento Miyahara (c) defeats Hideki Suzuki (17:08)

24th June 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

In the main event, Shota Kofuji & Yuma Anzai defeated Yasutaka Yano & Yuma Aoyagi to become the new Asia Tag Team Title #1 Contenders, setting up a match against champions AtsuHaya (Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO) on 19th July at Korakuen Hall. This match had a stupid (good) amount of heat, as all the Shin-Kiba shows do, but Kofuji and Anzai are so ridiculously over that the fans screamed on every nearfall. Kofuji has been killing it this year, developing an extremely strong connection with the crowd. The shriek when Kofuji won was ridiculous. Kofuji actually got the win over Yano with a Styles Clash, which was pretty awesome. I had not seen him do that move before, but I haven’t seen every single Kofuji match in recent months. Kofuji and the most handsome Yuma in all of Japan (Anzai, according to them) should just win the titles. There is no reason not to strap them up.

In the semi-main event Go Shiozaki, Jun Saito & Ren Ayabe defeated Kento Miyahara, Kuma Arashi & Ryuki Honda, with, most importantly, Ren Ayabe submitting the Triple Crown Champion, Kento. This set up their title match in Kobe on 25th July. It’s very convenient that Kento said there’d be a title match on 25th July and then the very next show he gets beaten. The whole struggle between Ayabe and Kento on the finishing stretch in front of a molten hot Shin-Kiba crowd was pretty awesome. They were screaming for Kento to break out of the submission, but it wasn’t to be.

AtsuHaya split up on the undercard to prepare for the upcoming All Japan Junior Festival. Mu-chan & Sei-chan (MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka) had the same idea, meaning it was Atsuki Aoyagi & MUSASHI against Rising HAYATO & Seiki Yoshioka.

Naruki Doi, also known as “Mr. Saito” in All Japan, picked up a win with the V9 Clutch on the new Junior Heavyweight Champion Dan Tamura in a tag match, setting up a title match on 25th July in Naruki’s former stomping grounds of Kobe, the home of Dragongate.

11th July 2026
Yokohama Radiant Hall, Kanagawa, Japan
Recommended Match: Ryuki Honda vs. Seigo Tachibana

© AJPW

All Japan seems to be in a pretty good spot with their house shows at the moment. Between Shin-Kiba and now Yokohama Radiant Hall, this was another easy watch from top to bottom. There wasn’t a standout match on the card, but if you’re the type of All Japan fan who mainly sticks to the Korakuen Hall shows, this is the kind of detour house show worth catching. The storylines all progressed nicely and there was great action throughout in front of a hot crowd, which has become something of a trademark for All Japan house shows in 2026. I keep saying it, but they have one of the hottest crowds in all of Japan right now.

Ren Ayabe and Kento Miyahara were building nicely towards their Triple Crown match on 25th July in Kobe, and the crowd made that clear, popping huge every time Ayabe cracked one of his stiff forearms into Kento, who sold it all well. Ayabe has shown signs of this multiple times over the past year. It was a promising preview and I left this show quietly excited for their singles match. The other big story out of this match was Shota Kofuji, who continued to be tremendously over with this crowd. He was excellent down the stretch; after debuting the Styles Clash in the #1 contender match on the last show, here he landed a Styles Clash on Rising HAYATO, only to get rolled up moments later by Atsuki for the loss. He still got the last word in after the bell with another Styles Clash on Aoyagi. All Japan looks to be building Kofuji into a bigger deal, another booking success for All Japan.

In his first All Japan appearance since 2018, Dragongate legend Masaaki Mochizuki was the standout in the semi-main. While I was wondering what Mochi was doing there, he used the win to lay out his case for a GAORA TV Title challenge against Kuma Arashi, who accepted the call to raise the belt’s profile in collaboration with GAORA property, Dragongate.

Daisuke Sekimoto was the highlight of the six man tag between himself, All Japan Junior Heavyweight Champion Dan Tamura & Hideki Suzuki against The Saito Family (Jun Saito, Naruki Doi & Rei Saito). Sekimoto’s double German suplex was the spot of the match, maybe of the whole night, as the crowd lost their minds. The match also did its job setting up the World Junior Heavyweight title match on 25th July in Kobe, with Naruki Doi getting the pin on Dan to close things out.

The opener between Ryuki Honda and Seigo Tachibana might be the two most underrated wrestlers on the roster, not in terms of how the company rates them (Tachibana was most recently a champion despite not being contracted), but in terms of the chatter they get, which is very little despite their consistently high output. Put in the opening slot of a Yokohama house show, they simply went out and had a banger, and it was a great way to kick the show off.

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

• El Cielo, Kazuma Kimura & Luis Mante vs. Flamita, Kzy & Strong Machine J vs. JACKY KAMEI, Mochizuki Jr. & Riiita – 4th June at Korakuen Hall
• Naruki Doi vs. Ryoya Tanaka – 5th June at Korakuen Hall
• AKEY, GuC, Strong Machine J & U-T vs. Hyo, JACKY KAMEI, Mochizuki Jr. & Riiita – 2nd July at Korakuen Hall

May 22nd – 24th, 2026
Sapporo E-one Stadium, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

Review By Taylor McClernan

Dragongate had its semi-annual trip to Sapporo for the standard Sapporo triple header. Sapporo is one of the trickier places in Japan to get to, as it isn’t part of the “Golden Route” for the Japanese train system. As a result, Dragongate runs shows in bunches when they get the roster out there. Since this was a triple header that largely had the same type of matches every night just in slightly different variations, I think it makes sense to talk about all three shows at the same time.

The biggest match of this taping was the double title match between Team 204 Kilograms (ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato) and the Open the Twin Gate & Sou Ryou Tag Champions, Jacky Kamei & Riiita. This was the best & longest match in Sapporo, and all four men treated it as the main attraction of the weekend. The writing felt on the wall coming into this, as Team 204 Kilos had just beat the tag champs at the Korakuen Hall show on the 8th to earn an All Asia Tag Title match at the June Korakuen Hall, and Gajadokuro beat JackyRiiita & Mochizuki Jr in trios action the night before. The obvious result is what followed, after an awesome 20 minute match full of great near falls and a hot crowd. JackyRiiita fell in their fourth defense and Team 204 Kilos became the 71st Twin Gate Champions. JackyRiiita have a claim to being the best tag team in the world, but Dragongate management never really got behind them to be booked like that. Despite winning the belts all the way back on November 3rd, they only managed to go 8-11 in Dragongate tag matches during that time, and their defense over Susumu Yokosuka & Kagetora at “Golden Colosseum” was the only defense against a real tag team. The other two defenses randomly came against Luis Mante & Demus, who only had two matches in Dragongate in 2025 and split them in tag action once against JackyRiiita, then another with Marcus Mathers and Dragon Dia. English play-by-play commentator Jae Church appeared on the Open The Voice Gate podcast, and among many things discussed how JackyRiiita only won the titles abruptly due to the fact of Dragongate management finding out about Dia wanting to depart the company, so they quickly acted to take the titles off of him. “Uno! Dos!! Tres!!!” was also Dia’s second to last televised match with the company, and management wanted to beat him again. Had Dia not decided to leave the company it is fair to wonder if JackyRiiita would have ever gotten any sort of push at all. None of this is to take away from ISHIN and Kato, who are terrific in their own right, and the correct call as the next Twin Gate Champions. Higher ups in Dragongate are clearly high on Kato, but he struggles to deliver at the top level consistently. With the swiss army knife that is ISHIN, they have found the right formula to feel like a legitimate heavyweight tag team for any company in Japan, and the proof is in All Japan deciding to give them the All Asia tag belts as outsiders.

The other main story followed this the next night on the 24th, as tensions between ISHIN and Kota Minoura boiled over. Gajadokuro dropped an 8-man tag to Genki, Kanda, Luis Mante & Ultimo Dragon when Minoura decided he was over it, and clocked ISHIN with a metal sheet into a Backslide from Heaven. This led to a drag out, non-stop brawl between MinoLee & Team 204 Kilos. Dream Gate Champion Kikuta had enough after multiple failed pull-aparts and proposed they just actually have a match against each other. An all Gajadokuro 6-man tag was booked for the June 5th Korakuen where MinoLee will team with Kikuta against Team 204 Kilos & KAI. I expect that match to not be the resolution and lead to a Twin Gate match between the teams. MinoLee will have a good claim to any of the three tag titles Team 204 Kilos or Genki & Kanda hold, as they were able to defeat the All Asia champs in a three way tag also featuring YAMATO & Dragon Kid on the 22nd, as well as most of Paradox in 8-man action on the 23rd. Horiguchi & Kanda also went 2-1 on the weekend, picking up a win over Natural Vibes in 6-man action on the 23rd.

The “Kobe World” Dream Gate challenger did not come into focus in Sapporo, as Kikuta remained undefeated on the weekend, beating all of Love & Peace, D’Courage, and Paradox for good measure. His main focus seems to be the inter turmoil in his own faction at this point, but he also has already defeated KAI. Two of the more likely world challengers are the two remaining members of D’Courage, but they had a losing record on the weekend, and Yoshioka already failed at his attempt in February. Since turning heel last May, Kikuta has beaten all of his fellow members of the Reiwa 6 except for stablemate Kota Minoura. Given Minoura’s dissension seems to be the only concern for Kikuta at the moment, and the lack of momentum any potential face challenger has, it may be Minoura in the main event opposite the Dream Gate Champion at “Kobe World”.

Dragongate likes to market any shows they can as homecomings, and Sapporo is the home town of both Kzy & BxB Hulk. As such, both men were featured in prominent matches on all three nights. Hulk picked up a big singles win over Homare on the 22nd, while Kzy & Vibes won the main event over D’Courage. BxB Hulk was part of the PARADOX team that fell in the semi main event against Gajadokuro on the 23rd, while Kzy had the exhibition singles match with Koki Oshima. Both men squared off in the main event of the final night, with Natural Vibes pulling off the victory in 6-man action. Kzy is one of Dragongate’s most solid performers, so both main events featuring him, as well as Flamita and Strong Machine J have a very high floor. All three nights had a main event that delivered, but nothing of substance in regards to building “Kobe World”. Vibes did close out the weekend with not only the full six members of the current 5.0 version of the group, but also by former members Genki Horiguchi, Susumu Yokosuka, and Jacky “Funky” Kamei. The Version 1.0 & 2.0 members (joined by Punch Tominaga) will take on the newer members of the group in a ‘Special Thanks to Natural Vibes’ 10-man tag at the June 5th Korakuen Hall. Kzy & Kids lost the Triangle Gate belts to a RyuKyu Pro Wrestling trio of Churaumi Saver, Gurukun Mask & Teelan Shisa in an untelevised main event on May 17th in Naha, Okinawa. Teelan Shisa is from Okinawa and is retiring on June 7th, also in his home prefecture of Okinawa, where the Triangle Gate belts will be defended against another RyuKyu team (featuring Punch Tominaga). It seems likely that the Triangle Gate belts won’t be around for the June Korakuen double header, and will end up vacated. It’s a shame that Natural Vibes’ reign ended with such a whimper after being a major feature of the first half of the year. It is hard to see where else Vibes or Paradox fit on the Kobe card besides a Triangle Gate match, and I wonder if we see a vacate tournament or gauntlet match in the lead up to “Kobe World”.

Sapporo also saw the debut of sorts of Dai Tsujiguchi & Koki Oshima. Both young boys called out Ryo Saito and management begging for a chance to prove themselves at the May Korakuen, and were granted these three exhibition matches. Tsujiguchi faced Susumu Yokosuka on the 22nd, Oshima faced Kzy on the 23rd, and both teamed together against JackyRiiita on the 24th. I found all three of these sub-10 minute matches enjoyable, but not spectacular. The focus was on the couple things they could do well, like dropkicks and the patented chop battles that Kagetora has taught everyone since taking over as lead teacher at the Dojo. The tag match was my favorite, as JackyRiiita worked a more grounded and stiff style to meet the young boys where they were in a fun change of style. I’m not sure they showed enough to be written into any immediate plans, but they both looked like they could be serviceable members of the roster. In a world where Dragongate management was on the ball up and down the roster I could see them carving out a role at the bottom of the card, but 2026 was shown difficult to find things to do with actual popular acts on the roster, or even have a clear roadmap to the biggest show of the year less than 60 days out.

Rounding out the weekend a highlight of all these shows was the youngster tag team opening matches. I thought all three opening contests were fun, as were the showcase singles matches. We saw Mochizuki Jr face off against both Ryu Fuda & El Cielo, along with GuC & AKey taking on El Cielo & Ryu Fuda, Homare & Kazuma Kimura team against D’Courage, & a trios match where Homare, Fuda, & Kimura took on the Vibes kids with UT. It was a pleasant surprise to see Ryu Fuda not only booked on all three shows, but actually interesting match ups at that. I came away most impressed with him, as he brought it more than anyone. That isn’t too surprising as he is returning from injury and always seems to fall behind the 8 ball, so he needed to prove himself in order to not get lost in the shuffle. I would recommend the single’s match with Junior the most out of all of this, but I found every match in this group enjoyable.

31st May 2026
Kobe Sambo Hall, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan

Review By Taylor McClernan

Dragongate returned to their homebase of Kobe Sambo Hall to close out the month of March. We continued to be treated to openers featuring many of the young standouts on the roster, and this show was no different as the three youngest members of Love & Peace took on Homare Kazuma Kimura & Ryu Fuda. Fuda wasn’t quite able to keep up his torrid pace from Sapporo, but he continues to show he should be more than a forgotten member of the roster. I’ve enjoyed the dynamics of a Homare & Kimura team as we’ve now seen it a few times. I like to see all six of these men have a bit more to chew on, but these matches are fun enough to pass the time.

UT got to face off in the Jiro Shinbashi trademark second match on the card. The referees have been becoming more and more part of Jiro’s act, which has been a solid addition. Our finish saw a tug of war over Shinbashi’s bento box, in which the ref was able to pull it out of UT’s hands, but ended up inadvertently knocking out Jiro with it.

We had an interesting three way tag which saw the newest and youngest members of Natural Vibes take on Kung Fu Masters and Problem Dragon & Takashi. Shockingly Ho Ho scored the pinfall victory over Problem Dragon here with the Ho Roll. I believe this is the first time I’ve seen Ho-Ho win in Dragongate proper. It seems the power of Genkimania is now transferring over to his Kung Fu Masters stablemates.

Speaking of Genkimania, Horiguchi would go on to win the Royal Sambo in the next match. In a match featuring every member of Gajadokuro mixed in with the veteran jobbers of the roster you would assume this would be an inner turmoil match to build to the Gajadokuro vs Gajadokuro match on June 5th. While we did get a taste of that, what we really got was Genki Horiguchi inexplicably beating the top unit in Dragongate almost single handedly. He even eliminated the Open the Dream Gate Champion. He finished the job by hitting the Backslide from Heaven on Yoshiki Kato. I think it is reasonable for Gajadokuro to not win this particular match given the angle we are building towards at Korakuen, but I continue to be baffled that so many of these moments and opportunities are going to a hobbled 47 year old Genki Horiguchi instead of any of the long list of talented under 35 talent on the roster seemingly doing nothing.

Oddly enough we had the follow up to Kato taking a pinfall loss with an El Cielo win in which he called Kato out after. Cielo and Mante have good chemistry so this was a fun showcase match for Cielo here. Cielo still lacks the crispness most of the Dragongate roster has, but he has been very comfortable trying stuff and being innovative in the ring, which adds a unique wrinkle to the mystery man of Dragongate. He got on the mic after the win to remind Yoshiki Kato he is not finished with him yet. The double tag champion came out to respond that he is not interested in revisiting this feud as Cielo has nothing that he wants. Maybe he should worry about winning a title first so Kato has something to gain from facing him. “Kobe World” is a month and a half away without any sort of clear Dream Gate challenger, so this very well might be the first breadcrumb we get towards the main event of the biggest show of the year. El Cielo vs Kikuta would be fairly random, but Cielo has exclusively feuded with Gajadokuro since debuting in the company, and it has been clear the company has tried to position him as a Dream Gate challenger on a few occasions. Waiting to pull the trigger here is ambitious, but Dragongate is sorely in need of some ambition right now, so I hope they do pull the trigger on this.

We got to see the pairing of YAMADoi take on D’Courage in our semi main event. This acted as a teaser of sorts for Tanaka’s 11th defense June 5th against Doi. Naturally that meant Doi pinning Yoshioka to get some momentum before their historic showdown. Yuki has really fallen far since “Uno! Dos!! Tres!!!”. He felt like the man that would be Dream Gate Champion in the US tour and through the rest of the major shows of 2026, but instead he is clear second fiddle to his only stablemate, and seems about as far away from every title in Dragongate as anyone. Yamato has been equally directionless, but at least still seems like a big deal given his history in the company and being the ace of the company as recently as last year.

Our main event saw the top three members of Natural Vibes score the victory over Paradox in 6-man action. Originally slated as an 8-man tag, Kagetora picked up a minor injury and was pulled from the match. Vibes just feels more complete and on another level when Flamita is in town. I think Flamita is probably the most underrated wrestler in the world right now, as he is consistently terrific every time he is in Dragongate, and seems to have chemistry with every member of the roster. Kzy continued his momentum over fellow Sapporo native, scoring another victory over BxB Hulk. The go-home promo was a tease of the Natural Vibes celebration 10-man tag coming up on the 5th of June. I think this is also a tease of the top contender for the Triangle Gate belts once they return to the company. This is the absolute best trio Natural Vibes has, and they just won the belts at “Dead or Alive 2025”. The way the belts were taken off of Vibes doesn’t seem to make much sense, but them ending right back on the group in a different formation would at least make it seem somewhat excusable.

Natural Vibes (@KEY, GuC & U-T) defeat Homare, Kenichiro Arai & Punch Tominaga (10:00)

Toru Owashi defeats Jiro Shinbashi (6:56)

Gajadokuro (Jason Lee, KAI, Kota Minoura & Madoka Kikuta) defeat PARADOX (BxB Hulk, Naruki Doi, Susumu Yokosuka & YAMATO) (4:31)

El Cielo, Kazuma Kimura & Luis Mante defeat Love And Peace (JACKY KAMEI, Mochizuki Jr. & Riiita) and Natural Vibes (Flamita, Kzy & Strong Machine J) (12:44)

Hyo & Shun Skywalker defeat D’courage (Ryoya Tanaka & Yuki Yoshioka) (15:15)

The Great Sasuke, Tiger Mask & Ultimo Dragon defeat Don Fujii, Dragon Kid & Masaaki Mochizuki (9:41)

All Asia Tag Team Title:
Gajadokuro (ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato) defeat Genki Horiguchi & Yasushi Kanda (c) (15:01)

Love And Peace (Mochizuki Jr. & Riiita) defeat Homare & Kazuma Kimura (6:09)

Don Fujii, Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Yokosuka & Ultimo Dragon defeat PARADOX (BxB Hulk, Dragon Kid, KAGETORA & YAMATO) (8:26)

Jiro Shinbashi defeats Danshoku Dino (8:05)

Shun Skywalker & Yuki Yoshioka defeat El Cielo & Luis Mante (7:53)

Genki Horiguchi, JACKY KAMEI, Kzy, Punch Tominaga & Susumu Yokosuka defeat Natural Vibes (@KEY, Flamita, GuC, Strong Machine J & U-T) (12:00)

Open The Brave Gate Title:
Ryoya Tanaka (c) defeats Naruki Doi (19:50)

Gajadokuro (Jason Lee, Kota Minoura & Madoka Kikuta) defeat Gajadokuro (ISHIN, KAI & Yoshiki Kato) (13:35)

21st June 2026
ACROS Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan

Review By Taylor McClernan

Our opening segment saw YAMATO & PARADOX bring out a bag full of title belts. YAMATO had worked the RyuKyu Teelan Shisa retirement show where he retired as Open the Triangle Gate Champion. YAMATO was tasked with bringing the physical titles back to Dragongate, which GM Ryo Saito took, then ultimately announced our 100th Triangle Gate Champions would be determined at “Kobe World Festival”.

The opening match saw Kazuma Kimura & Homare once again team up against Yuki Yoshioka & El Cielo. This was a decent but unspectacular opener which saw the two wrestlers with a higher slot on “Kobe World” expectedly pick up the win. El Cielo pinned Kimura with his spinning tombstone piledriver. I continue to enjoy the tag team pairing of Homare & Kimura despite their inability to win a match together.

Jiro Shinbashi took on TAKASHI next. These are the two most recent Open the Owarai Gate Champions of the full time Dragongate roster, so it seemed like a great matchup on paper. I am not personally as into TAKASHI’s comedic style as Shinbashi’s, but he did succeed in giving Shinbashi new wrinkles to his typical matches and spots. We continued to see the development of the referees factoring into the finish, as Shinbashi recruited Yagi to help him in a tug-of-war spot, which TAKASHI ultimately won and caused Shinbashi’s momentum to lead to him being German suplexed by Yagi.

Not much of note on the two multi-man tags prior to intermission. Genki Horiguchi has to be featured on every show in this region, so he led a trio to lose to the lucha influenced team of Luis Mante, Flamita, & Ultimo Dragon. Gajadokuro & Paradox met again in 8-man action after Korakuen Hall. This match lasted longer, but the result and purpose were identical to the previous show. This was just a vehicle to make Kikuta look good and to highlight the challengers for the Dream Gate title.

Our semi main event was the surprising singles match between ISHIN and recent Gajadokuro departure Kota Minoura. This was surprising because of the timing of it, as the next network show after Minoura was booted and not at “Kobe World” or Korakuen Hall. Dragongate and Ryo Saito seemed to be proven right, though, as there was really nothing at all to this match. I found it hard to care, and the live audience in Fukuoka didn’t seem to care any more than I did. The match ended on a ref distraction and metal sheet attack from Jason Lee. The Snake Skulls attacked but retreated when Yuki Yoshioka came out for the save. This duo pairing was spoiled by the Dragongate social media team, as Yoshioka had done the same a few shows prior. The duo seem destined to challenge for the Twin Gate titles at “Kobe World”, but nothing is official yet.

The main event saw Natural Vibes take on Love & Peace in 8-man action. This was of course the best match on the show, as these two factions are the heart and soul of the promotion in 2026. Surprisingly we didn’t see too much of Kzy or Strong Machine J, but a focus on GuC. I like seeing these groups focus on their younger members, and I think GuC has shown a lot of potential in 2026, but it is odd timing with Kzy having a Dream Gate No. 1 Contender’s match coming up, and J’s reaction following the loss in the 10-man Vibes tag match.

8th May 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,011
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Our opening contest saw the full Natural Vibes in a ten-man tag. Kzy and Strong Machine J led us off with an opening promo to remind us that they do have a sixth member, and he will be returning soon, in Flamita. Flamita had a fantastic 2025 for Dragongate and is one of the most underrated workers in the world currently, so it will be a very welcome sight to see him back. They took on a veteran hodgepodge highlighted by BxB Hulk’s return from injury. We got the debut of a dancing choreography elbow drop sequence to celebrate having five members in one match. Everyone got a bit of time to shine here, but obviously the Open the Triangle Gate champions picked up the victory with Punch Tominaga taking the pin.

The Sugihara Corporation had a Career Advancement match up next, as Jiro Shinbashi took on Munenori Sawa. Jiro has been expanding the lore of the company he works for this month, in failing to recruit and purchase Strong Machine J’s AI model for the company. His bosses have responded by making him wrestle matches for promotions in the company. Almost all of Sawa’s offense consisted of him tinkering with his glasses. Shinbashi was able to freeze Sawa’s mid strike with the reveal of his hairy chest, which was the highlight of the match. Sawa ultimately won with an octopus hold, preventing the promotion for Shinbashi.

Following the second match Dragongate’s young boys jumped in the ring to give an emotional promo asking to be granted their debut matches. They have been in the program for years at this point, in the same class as @KEY & Homare. This was an interesting segment to run here to try to build sympathy for these guys before they officially graduate to the main roster.

Gajadokuro was out next for an eight-man tag against the All Asia and former All Asia Tag Champions. MochiFujii & the OG Jimmyz seem to have been teaming a lot recently since the former dropped the belts to the latter. This was a pretty quick match where the veterans couldn’t keep their momentum up once they ran into the mountain that is the Dream Gate champion. Fresh off advancing to the Champion Carnival semi finals, Kikuta put Fujii down with a spinning lariat. He voiced his disgust for the veterans taking up so much time on these cards and backed the trainees that he’d rather see them wrestle than his opponents tonight.

A rare three-way one-fall singles match was up next, which saw Dragon Kid take on two of the tallest members of the roster in El Cielo & Luis Mante. This was a fun contest that allowed Cielo to spread his wings now that he is a unit free agent. The finish wasn’t pretty, but showed improvisation from Cielo, where he fell during backflip/side kick combination, and found a way to do a headscissors rollup from a prone position. Commentators Jae and Ho Ho raved about it the entire time until the next match started.

Hyo and Homare had a singles showdown as Hyo’s send-off for the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Hyo was more than happy to pose and show off during the opening exchanges where he had a clear advantage over the sophomore season wrestler. Homare was ever defiant and matched Hyo’s energy, which got Hyo to show a rare mean streak. This was more of a showcase for Hyo than a competitive match, which makes sense given the upcoming presence in New Japan.

Our semi main saw Kazuma Kimura team with the white hot D’Courage against the three multi-time Dream Gate champions in PARADOX. Kimura got most of the early exchanges, and for one of the first times seemed to get the upper hand on most of them. Kimura has seemed on the cusp of his first real push in the company the last few weeks, and this kind of showing in Korakuen was inspired. Despite this, he did end up eating a Jumbo No Kachi, Doi 5s, and Bakature Sliding Kick to lose to the veteran PARADOX. Ryoya Tanaka grabbed the mic after the match because he knew who he wanted to defend the Brave Gate title against at the June Korakuen, and that was today’s winner and the first ever Brave Gate champion, Naruki Doi. GM Ryo Saito came out to make it official, and we have our likely main event for next month’s Korakuen.

Our main event was a #1 contenders match for the All Asia Tag belts. Team 204 kg was who originally brought the belts into Dragongate, while JackyRiiita hold every tag belt in Dragongate besides these ones. This was a fantastic clash of styles, as JackyRiiita are heavily lucha influenced, and pair best with luchadors, while ISHIN & Kato’s tag name is based on their size as big heavyweights in the company. These four were involved in my 2025 Dragongate match of the year, so I always welcome having them run it back. Both teams were trading their best shots, but as the match culminated the champions seemed to have the match won. This is where the Snake Skulls reared their heads and stole the match. Before the successful cheating we got another chapter in Kota Minoura and ISHIN screwing each other over rather than Gajadokuro’s opponents. After the match, Minoura got on the mic to let his sour grapes be known, and even threatened to leave the group over it. No formal announcement was made at the time of this writing, but I would suspect MinoLee and Team 204 kg are on a collision course to a ‘loser leaves Gajadokuro’ match.

13th July 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Dragon Kid, Flamita, Luis Mante, Shun Skywalker & Strong Machine J vs. ISHIN, Jason Lee, KAI, Madoka Kikuta & Yoshiki Kato

Dragongate held a rare show at Shinjuku FACE to wave goodbye to the venue. The last time they were at the venue for a regular show (i.e. that wasn’t a “Gate of Nostalgia” or a produce show) was in 2016, but nevertheless, they wanted to pay their respects to the legendary venue. In the main event, Shun Skywalker wrestled his final Shinjuku FACE as part of the Dragongate roster, teaming with Dragon Kid, Flamita, Luis Mante & Strong Machine J against Gajadokuro (ISHIN, Jason Lee, KAI, Madoka Kikuta & Yoshiki Kato). All of Shun’s team were masked, meaning Luis Mante got a custom-made mask for this show. This was your classic Dragongate house-style match. It was really fun. Non-stop action and a hot crowd with some fun comedic spots thrown in there to give it a produce show vibe. After the match, Shun called out Homare for his final match in Dragongate, a singles match at the 4th August Korakuen Hall.

In the semi-main event, Kota Minoru & Yuki Yoshioka got some practice in ahead of “Kobe World”, facing PARADOX (KAGETORA & Susumu Yokosuka). This was a great hard-hitting match. It is crazy how much better Kota looks in a spot like this as a babyface compared to his Gajadokuro days.

Punch Tominaga celebrated his 15th anniversary teaming with YAMATO against Kendo Kashin and Masaako Mochizuki.

In the ‘Ikeman Senbatsu Rumble’, we had BxB Hulk, GuC, Homare, JACKY KAMEI, Kzy, Mochizuki Jr., Naruki Doi, Riiita, Ryoya Tanaka and U-T. As suggested by the name of the rumble, they all tried to look their best. Junior looked like he was straight out of The Matrix. Kzy looked good in a suit. Ryoya is a womaniser. Hulk looked like a Miami drug dealer. I legitimately could not recognise GuC when he was wearing a beanie. Anyway, he ended up winning. I think it goes under the radar how much GuC has improved in the past year with the switch to Natural Vibes. He’s a legit future talent and very popular with the DG crowd.

Jiro Shinbashi faced the Akihabara Station Representative of his company, who turned out to be…[checks notes]…it was Kikutaro. It was what you expect.

In the opener, Gianni Valletta ran through the Shinjuku FACE crowd for the last time as he faced Hyo. It was what you expect. Well, if you expected Gianni to take a liking to the leopard toy, Myonmyon.

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

• Chi Chi vs. Komomo Minami – 21st June at Koze Sports Park Gymnasium Sub-Arena
• Chika Goto & Kouki Amarei vs. Mai Sakurai & Natsumi Showzuki – 20th June at Korakuen Hall
• Komomo Minami vs. Miku Aono – 5th July at Westa Kawagoe
• Chi Chi vs. Nagisa Tachibana – 6th June at Hodogaya Public Hall

28th May 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

© ikeojimu

After winning the British Empire Women’s Title from Angel Hayze in April, Seri Yamaoka defended the title for the first time against Angel’s British compatriot, 18-year-old Maddy Morgan, who was coming off the back of an unsuccessful world title challenge against Miku Aono. Maddy’s athleticism was on show quite early on as she changed positions during the initial wrist control grappling with a one-handed front flip and the match was gearing up to be a great main event. Unfortunately, when Seri hit a double-footed dropkick, she landed awkwardly on her shoulder. She tried several times to try and massage it, it was almost as if she had dislocated it and she was trying to get it back into place, which may have been what happened. She was determined to continue the match, but referee Tommy, after giving her a chance to put it back into place, called the match. Seri was distraught and was crying her eyes out. You can imagine how she felt, unable to finish a main event while knowing Mayu Iwatani and Victoria Yuzuki are both out injured. The pressure on her must be enormous. Characteristically, Rossy Ogawa walked over and just handed Maddy the belt and then walked away again without looking at Seri. Maddy was by Seri’s side the entire time encouraging the crowd to cheer for her. I am not actually sure on title switches on injuries, but I am sure they could have made it up either way, so this made me think Maddy was always going to win the match, which was my prediction anyway. Seri later announced she would undergo surgery due to repeated dislocations with the left shoulder.

There were more Brits on the card as British duo Jessy Jackson & Nightshade, who were on tour with Marvelous, faced off against Chika Goto and Miku Aono. This match was for Nightshade to build up to a title challenge as she threw around, bullied and pinned Miku. Miku does not have enough challengers on the roster, especially with Yuzuki and Mayu out injured. Bringing in a great freelancer like Nightshade is much better than having someone like Hummingbird challenge, so this decision makes sense and it will be a good match.

Darkness Revolution (CHIAKI, Misa Matsui, Nagisa Nozaki & Rea Seto) were against Angel Hayze, Mai Sakurai, Nao Ishikawa & Natsumi Showzuki. Ishikawa, due to Natsumi’s encouragement, had been frustrated due to being so low down the card on “Shine Forever” on 23rd May. Ishikawa had new gear here so was looking for a fresh reset. Ishikawa hit a beautiful bridging German suplex on Misa, which I was hoping was the finish, but it was broken up, then Misa used a chair, CHIAKI powerbombed Natsumi onto Ishikawa and Misa hit her running knee strike for the win. I don’t mind Ishikawa losing a lot if it’s actually going to be used to fuel the storyline. They may be going in that direction so I’ll withhold judgement for now. I definitely would have had a different match structure, though. I probably would have used the heel faction Darkness Revolution in this match to build heat, having Ishikawa be targeted and beat up throughout the entire match to get the crowd on her side. I wouldn’t have even had Hayze, Mai and Natsumi do anything in this match except help break up some pins and stop some cheating. Instead, it was mostly just another DR brawl with the heel faction playing to the crowd and then tacked on two minutes at the end between Ishikawa and Misa. DR stole the 3D Trios belts after the match, so that is likely La Vie en Rose’s next defence once Erina Yamanaka returns from injury.

There was an all-young wrestler tag match as Komomo Minami & Nagisa Tachibana faced Lady AI & Yuuka Yamazaki. It was quite clear in this match that Lady AI is continuing to improve and is trying new moves. It’s still far too early to know her trajectory, but it was a promising performance where she moved quickly, with urgency and worked really well with Nagisa, who I imagine practices with her daily in the dojo.

28th May 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

© ikeojimu

The Marigold young talent began their war against protecting the promotion from the invading Chi Chi. First up, it was Nagisa Tachibana in a singles match. Nagisa walked out for her entrance and then blasted Chi Chi with a running dropkick. Nagisa was fired up and showed some real heat with her slaps, too, a fire she probably hadn’t shown ever. It was pretty awesome and exactly what you wanted to see. I keep saying it, the “outsider” storyline in Japan is so, so easy. It works 100% of the time and lets people get behind the promotion’s talent. There was a crazy spot where Chi Chi baited Nagisa to follow her outside the ring and then hit an awesome Fisherman’s suplex from the apron to outside the ring, perhaps the first time I’ve seen it executed like that. This was a really solid match and exactly what the Marigold undercard needs.

9th June 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

© ikeojimu

In the main event, Nightshade and Miku Aono continued their preview tags as Nightshade teamed with Jessy Jackson and Miku Aono with Nagisa Tachibana. As in the last Shinjuku FACE show a week prior, Nightshade pinned Miku Aono, and then Jessy Jackson closed out the show in her second appearance in the promotion.

New Twin Star Champions tWin toWer (Chika Goto & Kouki Amarei) faced two thirds of the 3D Trios Champion La Vie en Rose (Mai Sakurai & Natsumi Showzuki). Mai and Natsumi are two of the best wrestlers on the roster, so this was an interesting match to book, but I ended up liking the decision given that Mai won and it sets up a Twin Star Title match at Korakuen which could go either way. Adding intrigue to title matches is always a good thing, because I have no idea who’s winning that. Either tWin toWer would get a big scalp, or two of the best wrestlers on the roster become double champions, the viewer doesn’t really lose, and those are good title matches to book.

Chi Chi faced Yuuka Yamazaki, who rushed Chi Chi during her entrance, which makes perfect sense given the storyline. While I have historically been a big favourite of Yuuka, I will say that the Chi Chi match against Nagisa was much better in the sense that it fit the storyline better. Nagisa was so fired up like never before, whereas Yuuka mostly worked this match as if she was facing one of her colleagues. The difference was getting jumped during the entrance, but aside from that, it didn’t have the heat that I felt it should have. It was still a good match, though. I do have to add a caveat that Yuuka did get smashed against a ring post at the start and it made a thud noise. I think she got her hands up in time, but I couldn’t really tell, so if she did go head-first, it might explain why I was expecting a bit more out of her during the match, and she did very well to finish that match (but also, please don’t do that wrestlers). Komomo Minami came out to announce herself as Chi Chi’s next challenger. They slapped the crap out of each other.

Darkness Revolution (CHIAKI, Misa Matsui & Nagisa Nozaki) faced Hummingbird, Megaton and Nao Ishikawa. After being stacked by the foreigners at Ota Ward, with backstage and press conference comments afterwards focused on her frustration at being kept outside the main event on the anniversary show, there was a clear narrative thread to follow up on for Nao Ishikawa. Instead, Ishikawa was largely a background figure, the match built more around Megaton and DR’s pursuit of the trios titles. The criticism is this: the only reason to book that Ota Ward finish, being stacked up and stood on by foreign invaders, is to kick off a storyline for the person on the losing end. To then do nothing with it is a waste, and it is worth raising as a recurring issue with the booking. If they do it in a few weeks, cool, why have no progression in-between? You can do something so small every week, it doesn’t have to be an angle. Just have her wrestle most of this match, come close and lose again if you want.

Komomo Minami and SYOKO Koshino went to a time-limit draw, second on the card. Time-limit draws have their place, not in the second match of a card between two lower-card wrestlers where it isn’t going to be woven into any storylines. The underlying booking philosophy here seems to be that wrestlers depreciate in value when they lose, which is a strange view to take on a predetermined product. Just pick a winner. On the wrestling itself, Koshino is still struggling. Even things like her tornado DDT off the top rope look poor, the two of them simply rolling through it together.

13th June 2026
Kariya City Industrial Promotion Centre, Aichi, Japan

Nagisa Tachibana teamed with Shinno & Yuuka Yamazaki to begin her path to a challenge for Miku Aono’s World Title. Miku teamed with Hummingbird and Nao Ishikawa in the main event in Kariya. The only reason I know that this was the start of things to come is because Rossy said so at the press conference for the Korakuen Hall show, so Nagisa and Miku starting off the match together tipped things off even more. I think Nagisa has improved a lot, but I did not quite understand why she was being lined up for the spot. Rossy, in his answer, also worded it like, “Nagisa, for some reason, has also stepped forward.” I think he meant more like, “I don’t know the reason yet,” but it’s funnier if he said it like, “I have no idea why she did that.” For example, Nao Ishikawa is literally right there. In this match, she was even playing the ‘vet’ to Nagisa, no-selling the elbow strikes and stepping forward in defiance. Nao hasn’t challenged for the title. She has a storyline about stepping up. Why not her? But! We are where we are.

During the match there was a weird jumpcut, which normally means a botch took place that they didn’t want people to see. It can’t have been a serious injury because all wrestlers continued the match, and if it was just a break because someone needed attention, they normally leave that out. But we’ll never know. Nagisa pinned Hummingbird with La Magistral.

Nanase defeats The Lady AI (7:46)

Misa Matsui defeats Hummingbird (7:16)

Nao Ishikawa defeats Megaton (6:53)

Komomo Minami & Yuuka Yamazaki defeat Brooklyn Barrett & Jessy Jackson (12:28)

Darkness Revolution (CHIAKI, Nagisa Nozaki & Rea Seto) defeat Erina Yamanaka, Nagisa Tachibana & Shoko Koshino (13:51)

Marigold Twin Star Title:
tWin toWer (Chika Goto & Kouki Amarei) (c) defeat Mai Sakurai & Natsumi Showzuki (20:41)

Marigold World Title:
Miku Aono (c) defeats Nightshade (18:39)

21st June 2026
Koze Sports Park Gymnasium, Yamanashi, Japan
Recommended Match: Chi Chi vs. Komomo Minami

© _noa__o0

After defeating Rea Seto on 23rd May, Nagisa Tachibana on 6th June and Yuuka Yamazaki on 9th June, Chi Chi had three wins from three matches against the young generation in Marigold. She went one step further, defeating Komomo Minami in the semi-main event here. So far, the Nagisa match was the most impressive in that it completely transformed Nagisa into a side we hadn’t seen before. After this Komomo match, I still think that is the case, but Komomo definitely gave Nagisa a run for her money here, including moments where she slapped Chi Chi around the face and drilled a double-knee strike in the back of her head. Chi Chi was throwing forearms so hard that I heard someone basically scream in the audience. The last few minutes of this match were great. Backstage, Chi Chi called out more of Marigold’s top names before declaring entry into the Dream Star Grand Prix 2026.

27th June 2026
176BOX, Osaka, Japan

In the opener of the Osaka house show, Nao Ishikawa pinned Rea Seto clean with a delayed German suplex. In the post-match comments, Nao commented that now that Utami Hayashishita had left and Seri Yamaoka was on the injury list, she wanted to start winning cleanly with the German suplex. Following my complaints about a lack of follow-up for Nao after the 23rd May anniversary show, this is much more aligned with what I wanted to say. Nao getting singles wins and looking awesome. She sold well for Rea’s limb targeting before hitting the German suplex against the run of play. It was a solid match and hopefully a sign of more things to come from Nao.

Darkness Revolution (CHIAKI & Misa Matsui) beat La Vie en Rose (Mai Sakurai & Natsumi Showzuki), and in the process stole a second belt from the 3D Trios Champions, now only leaving Erina Yamanaka with a belt. DR issued the challenge for the 9th August Ota Ward show, but it did not seem like the champions agreed, with Natsumi saying she wanted to get her belt back immediately rather than wait for August.

The main event was Twin Star Champions tWin toWer (Chika Goto & Kouki Amarei) returning to Osaka for the first time as champions. They were very popular, even going against Marigold World Champion Miku Aono and fan favourite Komomo Minami. It was a reassuring performance for Kouki. It wasn’t a blowaway, but again it reaffirmed that Kouki’s place is in tag team wrestling.

After the match, Miku set up a singles match against Komomo for Miku’s homecoming show on 5th July in Kawagoe.

4th July 2026
Kinshicho Marui 8th Floor Sunrise Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Following the departure of Angel Hayze and Maddy Morgan, the latter of whom I thought was an excellent scout from Marigold, a new Brit arrived on this show, Aleah James. This was my first time seeing Aleah, and I wanted to see whether she could potentially be another Maddy Morgan or not. Aleah looked fine, though I’d like to see more of her before saying anything definitive. Aleah pinned Nao Ishikawa in six minutes, a result that fits the apparent current pecking order: Megaton, Rea Seto and Nao, everyone else, and then the imports at the top. Afterwards, trainee Anri came out and said she’d picked Ishikawa as her next opponent because she believed she could beat her. First of all, that’s hilarious. Secondly, this is actually a good angle for Nao, provided she’s allowed to destroy Anri when the match happens. Anri is a rookie talking herself up against a Marigold original, and there should be no ambiguity about how one-sided that needs to be. I believe the match is booked for the Ota Ward show on 9th August. As far as backstage comments go, Nao is quite difficult to follow. She’s self-deprecating, direct and honest in a way that’s interesting, but it doesn’t lend itself to building storylines, certainly not compared to Mai Sakurai, who I’ll get to in the next review.

The main event, La Vie en Rose (Erina Yamanaka, Mai Sakurai & Natsumi Showzuki) against Miku Aono, Shinno & Yuuka Yamazaki, was a very solid way to close out the show. Shinno continues to impress, and La Vie en Rose looked good across the board, as did Miku and Yuuka. What’s not to like about a match like this, especially as a house show main event? The highlight was a doomsday device style spot; Mai and Natsumi held Shinno up in an electric chair position while Erina dove off the top turnbuckle with an insane big boot. It was also the first time La Vie en Rose had been at full strength in a few months. Also, Yuka has started copying Azusa Inaba’s gimmick of calling everyone old hags.

Afterwards, Mai accepted a challenge from Darkness Revolution for the trios titles at the Ota Ward show on 9th August, with Darkness Revolution currently holding all three of the group’s championships as hostage.

Nagisa Nozaki pinned Kouki Amarei in the three way match that also featured CHIAKI. The match was originally meant to include Chika Goto, who withdrew due to illness. The result sets up a Twin Star Championship match on 14th July in Shinjuku.

5th July 2026
WESTA Kawagoe Yaoko Hall, Saitama, Japan
Recommended Match: Komomo Minami vs. Miku Aono

© _noa__o0

Miku Aono’s homecoming show drew 425 fans, which is a healthy number for this kind of event. She’s clearly popular back home. In the main event, she faced Komomo Minami in a singles match, which was a big spot for Komomo. The last homecoming show for Miku in 2025 saw her and Mayu Iwatani against Chika Goto & Utami Hayashishita, and that was an excellent match where Miku and Utami tried to kill each other, so Komomo had a lot to live up to. The match had all the tropes you’d expect from a homecoming show main event. There were fun touches throughout, including Miku’s older brother, who was working the merch stand, coming out to hit her over the head with a plastic tray. Komomo tried out Miku’s penalty kicks to the back but failed spectacularly, playing into the joke that she can’t kick with the same force that Miku can. Komomo’s diving crossbody is a spot that makes my stomach drop every time, which is really just a sign of how well she sells the danger of it. Her sliding kick needs a bit more power behind it, though, since she sometimes misses it completely, but her swinging DDT looks great. She also took a nasty bump off a lariat before Miku hit two brutal buzzsaw kicks, with Komomo firing up after the first, and got some loud chants going for her in Miku’s own hometown. Komomo’s fire up spots are a real strength of hers; she’s a very good babyface. Miku finally put her away with the Styles Clash. This was a fun main event to close out the show.

Buried in the middle of the Shupro match reports was an interview with Mai Sakurai, which is an unusual place to find that kind of piece. It opened with Mai explaining how she’s trying to bounce back from her first ever loss to a junior, when Chika Goto pinned her, which is a wild stat if true, though maybe that’s specific to her time in Marigold. More importantly, there’s a good storyline developing here through Mai’s own initiative which is what more Marigold wrestlers need to do as they have a booker incapable of doing that. Mai was apparently spiraling after that Gochika loss, but Giulia reached out to her and helped pull her out of it. The two of them don’t keep in regular contact according to Mai, but Giulia had watched Mai’s tag title match against tWin toWer at the last Korakuen show and reached out because she suspected Mai might be upset about the loss. According to the Shupro transcript, Mai was in tears recounting the story, saying Giulia’s message really helped her. I can’t quite tell how much of this is a work, since it’s entirely plausible Mai was upset out of kayfabe as well as in storyline, so I’ll just assume it’s all a work because that’s more fun. Giulia’s message was mostly encouragement, telling Mai it had been a good match and to keep going. I would be stunned if Mai doesn’t win the Dream Star and go on to challenge Miku at “Grand Destiny” in October. I appreciate that she’s trying to build herself towards that title shot given the booking hasn’t done it for her. Mai is a really good wrestler, underrated even, and she’s had some of the more interesting, emotionally driven storylines in the company over the past year. I wasn’t sold on the tWin toWer bullying angle to begin with, but they landed it well and her taking that loss made sense in hindsight. She deserves a run with the red belt, and I’ll keep saying so.

CHIAKI, Misa Matsui and Rea Seto took on Kouki Amarei, Shinno and Yuuka Yamazaki. It was a solid match, with Rea and Yuuka standing out as the most fun part of it.

Nagisa Tachibana was injured in a four-way on this show. She was in a program with Miku Aono.

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

• Chihiro Hashimoto vs. VENY – 12th July at Xebio Arena Sendai (My #3 Overall MOTY)
• Aja Kong & Miku Kanae vs. Reina Takano & YUNA – 12th July at Xebio Arena Sendai (My #5 Overall MOTY)
• Mio Momono & Yurika Oka vs. VENY & YUNA – 7th June at Shinjuku FACE
• Aja Kong & VENY vs. Chihiro Hashimoto & Yurika Oka – 24th June at Kobe Sambo Hall
• Miku Kanae vs. Senka Akatsuki – 13th June at Sendai PIT
• Chi Chi vs. Manami – 7th June at Shinjuku FACE
• Mika Iwata vs. Yurika Oka – 31st May at Aioi Hall

22nd May 2026
Sendai PIT, Miyagi, Japan

Hyperactive (Anita Vaughan & Safire Reed) finally got the Sendai Girls World Tag Team Title challenge that they were primed for since their tour began in mid-April. Hyperactive had to be at their absolute best to ensure an exciting match given that pretty much every viewer expected Manami & Ryo Mizunami to retain. Safire wrestled out of her mind to make everyone believe a different result as she had incredible chemistry with Manami in her best performance of her tour so far. Nevertheless, the champions retained and will defend against Red Energy (Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase).

Meanwhile, the Sendai Girls World Champion Chihiro Hashimoto once again had a great singles match in her post-Yuu retirement Wrestler of the Year run, this time against Chi Chi. There is no wrestler, besides Mio Momono, that has had as many good singles matches as Hashimoto this year. That is just a fact. If you find a single person that has watched all of Hashimoto’s and Momono’s 2026 matches and thinks otherwise, then please let me know. While I’d say this match wasn’t on the same level as Hashimoto’s other 2026 singles matches, it was still really enjoyable as Chi Chi’s temper clashed with Hashimoto’s “take no prisoners” style of wrestling.

EVO’s Chika continued to be featured on Sendai Girls shows following her impressive performances the month before. She teamed with Hiroyo Matsumoto against Bob Bob Momo Banana (Mio Momono & Yurika Oka). This match was pretty great. It was two loveable, annoying, bumbling idiots trying to coordinate to take down Chika. Do I need to say more?

Red Energy (Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase) faced Spike Nishimura & Yura Suzuki. Both young Sendai Girls talents, Spike and Yura, impressed here in different ways, Yura with her striking exchanges with both Iwata and Takase and Spike with her presence and selling. I thought Yura was excellent and has been for the past year or so. It’s inevitable that she will keep growing and make a name for herself.

In the opener Miku Kanae and Stephanie Maze faced Sendai Girls Junior Champion Senka Akatsuki and YUNA, who struggled to be on the same page given their feud over the title and Senka’s fiery attitude. Senka has evolved her character over the last year, subtly but still noticeable. She has still retained the impulsive, hothead image while also gaining a wild amount of confidence, laying in her strikes more and speaking with confidence on the mic. It’s a great combination and you can see her grow in real time. Miku pinned YUNA with her turtle swanton bomb and then challenged Senka for the title, which will take place on 13th June.

24th May 2026
Kobe Sambo Hall, Hyogo, Japan
Recommended Match: Aja Kong & VENY vs. Chihiro Hashimoto & Yurika Oka

© nobuman0810

As part of their 20th anniversary tour, Senjo held a rare show in Kobe, in the same venue that is the stomping grounds of Dragongate. There were quite a lot of fans, so much so that I was quite surprised, but then again I am used to the DG crowds which are smaller than this at the venue. This was a bit of a special show, almost produce-show like and not quite canon, main evented by Aja Kong’s 40th anniversary debut match as she teamed with VENY against Chihiro Hashimoto and Yurika Oka. This was awesome. We had glimpses of VENY and Hashimoto, a singles match that would blow the roof off of any venue, crazy crowd brawling with Aja kicking a fan in the stomach because he wouldn’t get out of his chair and also Yurika Oka putting on a heroic babyface performance against two tough as hell wrestlers. I was surprised Oka got the kick out of the backdrop suplex. Not long after, a VENY moonsault and a diving Aja elbow that the whole crowd squealed for sealed the deal.

Continuing with the non-canon nature of the show, CIMA & Koji Kanemoto took on Up Town founder Kuroshio TOKYO Japan and his junior Seigo Tachibana. CIMA of course made a name for himself at this very venue on his way to become a Wrestling Observer Hall of Famer and GLEAT legend. Good on you CIMA. Kanemoto is a legendary junior heavyweight from the 90s in New Japan. Jiro and CIMA already faced off in a tag match in GLEAT at Korakuen Hall earlier in the year, so it wasn’t an entirely new match up. I had to do a double take when I saw CIMA take a fan’s Up Town towel and rub it on his nether regions. The match was your usual crowd pleaser with lots of crowd brawling and fun spots.

Chi Chi and Red Energy faced T-HEARTS (Miku Kanae & Yumiko Hotta) and Yura Suzuki. This was the second show in a row that Yura looked extremely impressive, hitting some clean, cracking kicks on Mika Iwata. Iwata felt like being a rookie for a bit as she tried to take on the wall in front of her, Yumiko Hotta. You could have predicted that Hotta would have that type of role in this match.

STARDOM’s former Goddess of STARDOM Tag Team Champions BMI2000 (Natsuko Tora & Ruaka) made their way down to Kobe to face Manami & YUNA. Whenever I get mad at Ruaka, I just remember that Itsuki Aoki likes her and then I’m also able to withstand her wrestling. On the other hand, Natsuko was on point when she worked with YUNA, helping the crowd get behind YUNA with her heel work and creating a hot atmosphere for the match. There were some good nearfalls but of course, Natsuko took the win for her team.

Chika was the start of the match as she teamed with Stephanie Maze against Hyperactive (Anita Vaughan & Safire Reed). It was the second show in a row that Chika’s match revolved heavily around her, and it was just as good.

30th May 2026
Kariya Industrial Promotion Center Aioi Hall, Aichi, Japan

© haya_MASATASLK

In the main event, frenemies Chihiro Hashimoto & Mika Iwata faced Spike Nishimura & VENY. I thought this match was notable for Spike’s improvement. She looked incredibly comfortable in the main event with three other world-class talents, hit all the spots she needed to, and scored some great nearfalls on Hashimoto in the finishing stretch. If you watch Spike at the start of her 2025 Sendai Tour and then watch this match you’d be blown away by the improvement.

Hyperactive (Anita Vaughan & Safire Reed) pinned Miyuki Takase, who was teaming with Manami. If Red Energy would win the title on 13th June, would Hyperactive try to get another shot again before their tour ends? Hmm.

Elsewhere, there were two singles bouts between Sendai Girls’ young wrestlers and outsiders. In the first, Miria Koga defeated YUNA with a flash pin. YUNA was a great babyface in this match, but I have the same comments for Miria that I’ve had elsewhere in that she isn’t consistent enough with capitalising on working with good babyfaces and lacks aggression sometimes. On the other hand, Yura Suzuki has basically figured it out and looked like a polished young talent in her bout against Yurika Oka.

31st May 2026
Azalea Taisho Hall, Osaka, Japan
Recommended Match: Mika Iwata vs. Yurika Oka

© keisuke226

In the main event, Mika Iwata finally got her hands on Yurika Oka in what is the ultimate match for anyone who has been following the Sendai Girls documentary. Yurika had been driving Iwata absolutely mad, doing things like screaming in her ear and then running away to post the reaction on social media, the most annoying bratty little sister behaviour imaginable. Yurika is a master at mixing comedy with top-tier wrestling, and she did it again here. She went for a headbutt and hurt herself far more than Iwata. She tried to bait Iwata outside the ring before getting scared and bolting. When Iwata kicked her against the bottom rope, you could hear an involuntary grunt from Yurika that was perfectly timed, like the kick had pierced her soul. This match was pretty awesome. There was a wild spot where Iwata went for a suplex and Yurika did not get over cleanly, turning it into a shoot DDT. I cannot tell whether it was a flub or not, but it was crazy either way. The closing stretch was a masterclass. Yurika launched into a series of armtrap cradles, and on the last one simply put all of her weight on Iwata, with the crowd completely buying it as the finish. That is how you do the spam cradles spot that American wrestlers attempt and fail. If there’s anyone wanting to study back-to-back nearfall sequences done to perfection, they should watch the last few minutes of this match. Iwata, furious, then started kicking the hell out of Yurika, who kicked out to a huge pop, before Iwata put her away with the Raion.

Chihiro Hashimoto & Miku Kanae faced Manami & Ryo Mizunami in what served as a preview for Hashimoto’s upcoming Sendai World Title defence against Mizunami. I did not take extensive notes on this one, but it was actually a really good match with a lot of nearfalls and everyone worked super hard. The main takeaway for me was once again seeing that Manami and Hashimoto have incredible chemistry together, something established in their title match but totally reinforced here. They could run that match back any number of times and it would be great pretty much every time. This was a borderline recommendation match but I decided to leave it out as I don’t like overloading the recommendations in the newsletter. If you like Sendai Girls, though, give it a watch.

The tag match pitting Hyperactive (Anita Vaughan & Safire Reed) against Chi Chi & VENY was the first time VENY and Safire had faced one another since EVE back in October, and they showed very good chemistry. That was the first time I had met VENY. Good times. VENY has chemistry with all kinds of opponents, hard hitters, brawlers, shoot wrestlers, but I think her most underrated pairing is with faster, smaller wrestlers. The standout moment saw Anita try to slap Chi Chi, only for Chi Chi to duck and deliver the most perfectly timed thigh slap I have ever seen. The shot had Chi Chi facing away from the hard cam with her thigh in plain sight, yet at regular speed you would be completely convinced it was a shoot slap. That is an art form in itself. This was a fun match overall, finished when a VENY misfire allowed Anita to take the win on Chi Chi.

Hiroyo Matsumoto and Rydeen Hagane faced Miria Koga and Miyuki Takase in a fun match. I was surprised by how much Miria was able to kick out of from Matsumoto. She has received a shine across this run of Sendai Girls shows, picking up a win over YUNA on the previous show before going a considerable length of time with Matsumoto here. Good on Arisa Nakajima for getting that booking.

Second on the card was Spike Nishimura against Yura Suzuki, who was debuting new gear, and this match totally overdelivered. It is quite rare to get a match this heated this early on a Sendai Girls card, but these two produced exactly that. What struck me most was Yura (once again). She is not just good, she is very consistently good, and I could not take my eyes off her throughout. She has improved enormously over the past year or so. Around a month or two before last year’s “Catch the WAVE” tournament she was fine but did not particularly stand out. Throughout the tournament she got better and better, having great matches with Miyuki Takase and Ranna Yagami. Compare her matches from a year ago to now and it is night and day. She has cleaned up so much and simply does not have bad matches. The crowd were completely invested, shrieking at every kick she landed. There was an insane headkick with a perfectly timed thigh slap that drew an audible reaction from the crowd. She also brings some power to her game with an overhead uranage. Great stuff from Spike and Yura.

7th June 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Matches: Chi Chi vs. Manami, Mio Momono & Yurika Oka vs. VENY & YUNA

© ebi_billet

Following her return to Sendai Girls as a full-time contracted wrestler, Ryo Mizunami took the leap to challenge Chihiro Hashimoto for her Sendai Girls World Title in the main event. This was a good main event, which will be elevated into a must-see match if you like Ryo Mizunami matches. I do not, which is why I am not recommending it, since it is my recommendation list. Hashimoto was still her usual awesome stuff, but stuck in the confines of a Mizunami match layout. The crowd absolutely loved it though. Enough about that. After the match, the next challenger started walking down the steps of Shinjuku FACE. I heard the crowd murmurs, so I knew it was someone unexpected, but the camera hadn’t panned yet. Then, I saw her. It was VENY. I squealed like the little girl I am. VENY said that Hashimoto had been so preoccupied thinking about a certain “S” or a certain “I” (Syuri and Takumi Iroha) that she had forgotten about her greatest rival, VENY. They had last had a singles match in Osaka three years prior where VENY won the Sendai Girls World Title, but it was time to do it again in VENY’s home prefecture of Miyagi (which is why she works Sendai Girls more than any other promotion, even if she is a freelancer). VENY is from Kesennuma City in Miyagi. The English-speaking resources were just wrong when they list Yokohama. It was made official for 12th July at Sendai’s first of their three big shows in the second half of the year.

Bob Bob Momo Banana (Mio Momono & Yurika Oka) faced VENY & YUNA in the semi-main event. YUNA looks up to VENY, so this was a dream pairing for YUNA and a welcome appearance high up the card for her. While there was no doubt on the outcome of this match, it wasn’t about that, it was about YUNA having the time of her life teaming with one of her idols against Sendai Girls’ premier tag team. I don’t really know where to start with this match review. I don’t even know if I should review it. Hmm. Yeah. I’m not going to. I will just say I had a smile on my face this entire match. I loved the dynamic, both between the teams and VENY & YUNA. I loved the match layout. I loved each wrestler’s portrayal of their characters. This is my type of match. I love wrestling. *cues the Andrade El Idolo clip*

The overseas talent staying with Sendai Girls all teamed up (Anita Vaughan, Safire Reed & Stephanie Maze) against Hiroyo Matsumoto, Miyuki Takase and, wait, Yuka Satsuki? This was Yuka’s first appearance in Sendai Girls since the Jaja Uma 2025 Tournament, and it was quite a random spot for her to be placed in, as normally when Meiko brings in young talent from other promotions they’re in the opening matches. But, I wasn’t complaining because I love Yuka, who is one of the best rookies around. It was a real “worlds collide” moment when Safire faced Yuka, as I never would have guessed that they would share a ring together. This was another assured performance from Hyperactive & Maze. Takase called out Hyperactive for a match with Red Energy at the 20th June Shin-Kiba show. Elsewhere, Takase’s tag team partner Mika Iwata beat ZONES in a solid singles match, with ZONES laying her lariats in and Iwata responding in kind with her signature knee strike and kicks. After the match, Iwata cut a promo which resulted in the whole crowd chanting her name. She teased going after the singles title.

Chi Chi went to an excellent time-limit draw with Manami. It’s quite shocking that Manami is still only 21, because she is honestly an excellent, underrated wrestler. Manami is known more for her woo’ing and antics than her wrestling ability, which is a bit sad. Anyone in doubt about Manami’s wrestling skills should first watch her title challenge against Hashimoto earlier this year, this match, and a bunch of other matches against Yurika Oka in 2026.

Miku Kanae and Senka Akatsuki continued to build towards their title match on the subsequent show, as Miku & Spike Nishimura opened the show against Senka & Yura Suzuki. While I thought this would be a short and sweet match, Miku gave us yet another of her rare German suplexes, which Senka actually kicked out at 1 on. I’m not sure if she meant to, but she did. Spike took the win, pinning Yura with her double underhook facebuster.

13th June 2026
Sendai Pit, Miyagi, Japan
Recommended Match: Miku Kanae vs. Senka Akatsuki

© ppp_krmhn

Reina Takano, 18, who joined in April 2026, passed her pro test on this show, showing a good level of confidence. A lot of the independent promotions, including others like Marvelous and Diana, do public pro tests. Some of them are brutal. We covered the ones for Hijiri Saotome and Kanata Suou in Marvelous, and they looked brutal. Kanata in particular struggled a lot and failed once before passing a month later. They are strenuous and difficult physical activities. Takano has been a well-touted prospect. Chihiro Hashimoto and others have spoken very highly of her on the Sendai Girls’ documentary on YouTube. It was therefore no surprise that she looked composed and in control the entire time during her pro test. It was a really impressive performance, especially compared to the aforementioned recent pro tests. In particular, the headstand kickovers were so easy for her compared to Kanata. Much like the Marvelous tests, she also had to do the headstand for thirty seconds, but with YUNA sitting on top of her. Kanata didn’t do that, but Hijiri did (with Senka Akatsuki on top of her). The only thing she struggled slightly with was the squats. But, the Marvelous trainees did those at the start of their test, and Kanata even struggled with those. Reina was doing them at the end of her test, making it incredibly impressive. After a short break, Reina and Meiko Satomura met in the ring and Meiko passed her.

While that kicked off the show, the end of the show was also a happy story, with Red Energy (Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase) winning the Sendai Girls World Tag Team Title, beating Manami & Ryo Mizunami and ending their short two-month reign. There’s not much to analyse or break down from a booking point of view here. Sendai Girls just kind of do things and it’s one of the things you accept when you watch them. You’re largely there for great in-ring action. For all we know, Red Energy could drop the titles next month to Bob Bob Momo Banana at Xebio Arena on 12th July, or they could carry them up until 2027.

Senka Akatsuki successfully defended her Sendai World Junior Title against Miku Kanae. This was an excellent match. Senka immediately set the tone by opening with an axebomber and going straight for the pin, which speaks to what makes her such a compelling performer. Much like wrestlers like Miu Watanabe, there is something about Senka’s character and how she carries herself that draws you in completely. She simply wants to win the match, and you believe every part of it. That conviction ran through everything she did here, from the body slam into zenjo-style pins to trying to smash Miku into the corner pad to break up an octopus hold, exhausting herself in to win the match. Miku is cut from a similar cloth. Everything she does is delivered with such believability and emotional expression that you forget you are watching a performance. Both wrestlers are excellent not because they are performing 450 splashes, insane submission transitions like Zack Sabre Jr. or displaying the athleticism that Will Ospreay does, but because they tell stories through their matches better than the vast majority of wrestlers on the planet. Wrestling is a storytelling medium, and these two are among the best at it. Senka took the win with a running backdrop, a move I believe she debuted at the Marvelous 10th anniversary show on 5th May and has been incorporating it into her matches since. Switching up her finishes regularly suits her perfectly. Afterall, she is a 90s joshi wrestling nerd and has a quite old school attitude to wrestling.

Hyperactive (Anita Vaughan & Safire Reed) faced Chihiro Hashimoto & Spike Nishimura. This was my favourite Spike performance ever. She’s had a lot of good performances, but as she’s still early in her career I felt that she still had room to add some intensity into her performances. The style she wrestles lends itself well to aggression and intensity, so the more the better. This was by far her most confident and reassured promotion. Nothing said that more than when she floored Anita with a beautiful, stiff lariat. She also got a well-deserved pin on Safire, which was quite a surprise with how much Hyperactive have won on their tour, only dropping a loss to the tag team champions.

Two singles matches opened up the show. First, Hiroyo Matsumoto beat Stephanie Maze. Earlier in the opener, Chi Chi faced YUNA. This was a good opener, a higher quality than a lot of Sendai Girls openers. They had surprisingly good chemistry, and YUNA in particular was great. She was confident, moved well, was expressive and sold well. Bob Bob Momo Banana (Mio Momono & Yurika Oka) defeated Yura Suzuki & ZONES.

20th June 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

After Red Energy (Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase) captured the Sendai Girls Tag Team Title from Manami & Ryo Mizunami, they immediately jumped into a non-title match against Hyperactive (Anita Vaughan & Safire Reed), who had lost a title match a month prior to Manami & Mizunami. This match was set up on the 7th June Shinjuku FACE show, before Red Energy were champions, so this wasn’t a title match itself. Despite that, Red Energy still got the win, with Iwata pinning Safire with the Raion.

Manami and Spike Nishimura clashed in a singles match, with Spike picking up yet another surprise win. Spike has been wrestling with a lot more urgency on this “Road to the Junior Title” and I’ve been loving it. Spike murdered Manami with her signature springboard dropkick here, and when Manami kicked out at one on a sliding lariat, they both ran at each other full speed and Spike took Manami’s head off with a lariat, before following up with the seatbelt for the win.

Chi Chi & Yurika Oka faced Chihiro Hashimoto & Ryo Mizunami. The star of this match was, once again, Yurika Oka. Yurika has a connection with the crowd that very few other wrestlers have. The crowd lost their mind when Yurika got Hashimoto up for a brainbuster, and they desperately wanted her to kick out when Hashimoto followed up with a spear and a lariat. While the lariat put Yurika away, this was another excellent showing for Yurika.

Hiroyo Matsumoto & Miku Kanae took on Stephanie Maze & Yura Suzuki. Poor Miku was getting destroyed by both Steph and Yura’s kicks in this match. Steph then stole Spike’s closed fist strike (joke), which Matsumoto was not happy about and ended up submitting Steph with her sharpshooter.

YUNA opened the show against Mio Momono. YUNA has really come into her own in these openers. Before, the openers used to be a bit dull, quiet and uninteresting. But because of YUNA’s great improvement in 2026, she has turned these openers into heated bouts where the crowd are willing her to victory against established names. I feel like the switch was the 22nd March match against Hashimoto, but it could have been earlier. Either way, YUNA got a lot of close nearfalls on Mio here, but it wasn’t enough.

Ryo Mizunami & Saori Anou defeat Hiroyo Matsumoto & Yura Suzuki (7:01)

Saya Iida defeats Manami (7:12)

Aja Kong & Miku Kanae defeat Reina Takano & YUNA (14:23)

Daisuke Sekimoto defeats Super Sasadango Machine (8:31)

Jaguar Yokota, Saira, Senjo Daikannon & Unagi Sayaka defeat Anita Vaughan, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan, Safire Reed & Stephanie Maze (10:58)

Sendai Girls World Junior Title:
Spike Nishimura defeats Senka Akatsuki (c) (9:51)

Sendai Girls World Tag Title:
Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase (c) defeat Yurika Oka & Mio Momono (17:05)

Sendai Girls World Title:
Chihiro Hashimoto (c) defeats VENY (22:54)

Marvelous, helmed by former Crush Gal and All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling legend Chigusa Nagayo and its ace and talisman, Takumi Iroha, has been on an upswing throughout 2025 leading into their 10th anniversary. Cagematch will list other events but they were not part of the official promotion as it is today, which held its first event on 3rd May 2016. They’ve gained renewed interest, both domestically and internationally, for their rookie Senka Akatsuki as well as their high-quality interpromotional feud with Marigold. Marvelous regularly runs Shin-Kiba 1st RING in Tokyo for its ‘canon’ shows, with house shows outside of Tokyo rarely having any coverage, aside from the Social Suplex Network. You can watch Marvelous live on Zaiko, where shows cost around ¥3800, or on demand roughly three to four weeks after the event date on Wrestle Universe.

Recommended Matches:

• Ai Houzan & Mio Momono vs. Sareee & Takumi Iroha – 11th July at Aioi Hall
• Johnnie Robbie vs. Mio Momono – 14th June at Shin-Kiba 1st RING
• Chikayo Nagashima vs. Mio Momono vs. Momoka Hanazono vs. VENY vs. ZONES – 19th June at Shin-Kiba 1st RING
• Echika Miyavi vs. Senka Akatsuki – 11th July at Aioi Hall
• Aja Kong vs. Senka Akatsuki – 19th June at Shin-Kiba 1st RING
• CHIAKI, Riko Kawahata & SAKI vs. Kakeru Sekiguchi, Misa Matsui & Yuko Sakurai – 19th June at Shin-Kiba 1st RING

The biggest story in Marvelous shows over the past couple of months has been Mio Momono’s West Coast Pro Women’s Title reign. She saw off Jessy Jackson on 31st May in a match that ran a bit long but had a great near-fall stretch, then followed it up on 14th June with what I’d call one of the best matches in Marvelous this year against Johnnie Robbie. It had everything: urgency, violence, a great arm-work story, and a finish where Mio spotted the opening after Johnnie survived both the German suplexes and the JK Bomb. Mio’s form in 2026 puts her right in the conversation for Outstanding Wrestler of the Year behind Chihiro Hashimoto.

The other story relates to Ai Houzan. It surfaced only briefly in the background through May and June, her booking left unresolved after the Mio Momono match earlier in the year, before being picked back up on 11th July in Aichi, near Ai-chan’s hometown, when she teamed with Mio against Spark Rush (Sareee & Takumi Iroha). The tag match itself was strong, but the post-match promo was the most important part. Sareee called Ai-chan out for giving the same crushed, pressured promo she’s given before without any real progress, and Ai-chan broke down admitting she was frustrated with herself for looping in place. It’s a very Marvelous pattern, they’ll drop a storyline for months and then bring it back with some of the best promo work on the roster, and this was another example of that and I loved every second of it.

Sareee took a hiatus beginning 14th May, on the advice of her doctors, to rest her neck and prevent further damage. The condition worsened on 16th April at “Fortune Dream 11”, Kenta Kobashi’s produce show at Korakuen Hall, where she had wrestled Chihiro Hashimoto and Saya Kamitani before immediately flying to Las Vegas and competing again in the Marvelous show main event. As a result, she was pulled from all scheduled appearances. Sareee had also been announced for AEW’s Owen Hart Tournament, set to face Skye Blue on 10th June, and she travelled to America with Takumi Iroha. She was ultimately removed from the match and replaced by Maya World, though not because AEW conclusively ruled her unfit to compete. As Takumi later explained at the Marvelous 14th June show, the issue was that Sareee was unable to produce the medical documentation required to satisfy AEW, leaving them unwilling to take a chance on someone with an undisclosed neck issue. Sareee clarified at a later date that they had only shown MRI scans from when she initially took the time off and AEW requested newer ones that they didn’t have.

In her interview with BBM and her announcement at the Marvelous show on 14th June, Sareee expressed no regrets, framing her decision to make the trip as something she had to act on without hesitation, as giving up without trying is not in her dictionary. She was happy about Maya World taking her place, noting Maya’s determination in continuing to wrestle following the devastating loss of her brother, who was close to her in age, and said she understood AEW’s reasoning in offering that opportunity to a wrestler of such resolve. Sareee confirmed that Tony Khan had extended an open invitation for her to compete in AEW once she had recovered, although Sareee has the ambition of doing so in tag team action as Spark Rush.

Her announcement at the 14th June Marvelous show was that she would return on 21st June, at Takumi’s homecoming show in Fukuoka, where Spark Rush lost their challenge for the AAAW Tag Team Titles held by Nightshade & Nyla Rose (the show did not make tape), having originally wanted to make their mark together in AEW. Takumi disclosed that the issue was that Sareee’s cervical spine had a “structural abnormality” (sic: machine translation), something many wrestlers carry according to Takumi, which had worsened and was causing numbness but was not at a critical stage and simply required rest. Takumi also referenced that her ROH main event against Hyan received strong praise backstage and that she felt she had left a mark there. While the America trip did not go as planned for Spark Rush, Takumi considered it a positive experience overall, and Sareee has similarly framed it as a stepping stone. She reportedly spent much of the trip in tears at being unable to compete.

The show from Las Vegas in April has been uploaded to West Coast Pro’s YouTube channel. Both Aja Kong vs. Senka Akatsuki II and Mio Momono & Johnnie Robbie vs. Spark Rush are worth going out of your way to watch, but it was a great show from top to bottom.

Click here if you want show reviews of Marvelous!

OZ Academy is one of the longest standing joshi independent promotions. As with a lot of other joshi promotions, it was founded by a legendary joshi wrestler known for her work in the 90s, Mayumi Ozaki. Her signature heel work manifests itself in this promotion and delivers a unique live experience, making OZ Academy primarily a touring promotion with only one show a month at Shinjuku FACE making tape, alongside special shows at Korakuen Hall and other arena shows a few times a year. OZ Academy can be viewed with a VPN via GAORA’s on demand service. The Shinjuku FACE shows can be watched live for around ¥3300, although sometimes they are on NicoPro where a VPN is not needed. There’s currently no official, international friendly alternative to watching the promotion. They’re only contracted wrestlers are Mayumi Ozaki and AKINO, so they rely heavily on freelancers and co-operating with other promotions.

Recommended Matches:

• Cohaku vs. Miku Kanae – 7th June at Shinjuku FACE
• Jaguar Yokota, Mayumi Ozaki & ZAP vs. Kaori Yoneyama, Momoka Hanazono & Ram Kaicho – 7th June at Shinjuku FACE

OZ Academy’s last two Shinjuku FACE shows have kept the spotlight on the Little Goblins (Kaori Yoneyama, Momoka Hanazono & Ram Kaicho), and it’s quickly become one of the best storylines going in the independent scene right now. Initially, the OZ Academy Office agreed to give them a Trios title match if they made it to 10 wins in a row. After they started stacking up wins, on 7th June, the promotion interfered to try and shut the winning streak down, booking an official interference match with Jaguar Yokota, Mayumi Ozaki & ZAP sent in specifically to end it. The match was incredible, from Momoka’s googly eyes on Jaguar to the toy dog distracting her mid beatdown, but the Goblins still found a way past the numbers, with Kaicho rolling up Ozaki to extend the run to six wins in a row. On 12th July, AKINO & Cohaku faced two of the three Goblins in a tag match that continued the ongoing toy dog saga, with Momoka tempting AKINO into another distraction before eventually paying for it, but since it wasn’t a trios match it left the streak untouched. Their next assignment is now set for Korakuen Hall on 17th August against Jaguar Yokota, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Yuko Miyamoto, with a win taking them to seven straight and one step closer to the ten wins needed to be crowned the inaugural OZ Academy Trios Champions.

Elsewhere, both shows continued to reinforce the story that has defined OZ Academy for the last six months, that Power Gojizones Alliance are the top team in the promotion and Seiki-gun are taking the backseat. Hiroyo Matsumoto, Rina Yamashita & Ryo Mizunami closed out the 12th July show over Mayumi Ozaki’s Seiki-gun trio (Ozaki, Kakeru & Saori Anou), with Matsumoto pinning Ozaki herself, and the fallout built towards Saori Anou & Unagi Sayaka challenging for the OZ Academy Tag Team Titles at Korakuen Hall on 17th August, currently held by Hiroyo Matsumoto & ZONES. Despite not being part of the same unit, Saori & Unagi have a stipulation that if they come up short, they’ll stop teaming together altogether. It was Unagi’s request after she beat Saori in a singles match in April.

Click here if you want show reviews of OZ Academy!

SEAdLINNNG was once a darling of the joshi independent scene, but with the departure of its founder Nanae Takahashi and the retirement of one of the best joshi of the 2010s in Arisa Nakajima, it has become a promotion more focused on its rookies and young talent, namely its core five young contracted talent in Honori Hana, Miria Koga, Selene Misora, Yuki Funa and Lana Hisaki. It is now run by the team of Natsuki Taiyo and Arisa Nakajima. SEAdLINNNG can be watched on its website. There are live shows which cost around ¥3500 each, or you can wait one month for them to show on the live streaming service if you have a ¥1000/month subscription.

Recommended Matches:

• Ayame Sasamura vs. Honori Hana – 16th June at Shinjuku FACE
• Unagi Sayaka vs. VENY – 16th June at Shinjuku FACE
• Makoto vs. Selene Misora – 16th June at Shinjuku FACE

SEAdLINNNG’s last two shows kept building out its most compelling stories of the year. At “Early Summer Games 2026” on 16th June, standout rookie Selene Misora faced Makoto to celebrate her first year anniversary. The pair had spent weeks annoying each other in press conferences, with Selene openly angling to become VENY’s preferred partner and Makoto annoyed at the idea of a rookie muscling in on seven years of history. After a strong match between the two, Selene officially joined Las Fresa de Egoístas as VENY’s new junior, and a group photo followed with VENY over the moon about her new junior and Makoto still guarding her spot at VENY’s side. In the main event, Ayame Sasamura retained the Beyond The Sea Title over Honori Hana in a match that built well in a hot finish. The aftermath mattered as much as the match itself, with La Pidita (Kakeru Sekiguchi) and Ka Kedita (Kaho Kobayashi) completing their rudo turn by attacking both women and unmasking to reveal darker masks underneath, before challenging Unagi Sayaka and Honori for the Beyond The Sea Tag Team Titles.

“SEED STAGE vol. 4” on 28th June showed why the series produced by Arisa Nakajima and held at Diana’s dojo continues to be one of the best shows around. The main event gave Miria Koga real room to shine alongside Big Haruka against Honori and Miku Kanae, and it’s clear that her aggressive run through WAVE’s Catch the WAVE Tournament has done wonders for her in-ring character. She’s looked a bit hit and miss in SEAdLINNNG in the past, but that edge suits her, and it would be great to see her bring it back into her home promotion going forward. The next big date on the horizon is SEAdLINNNG’s Korakuen Hall show on 25th August, and there are a couple of threads for the show. Tsukasa Fujimoto is set to return from her latest hiatus at Ice Ribbon on 15th August before turning up at Korakuen ten days later. Meanwhile, La Pidita and Ka Kedita have a preview match booked for 26th July that should confirm what’s already fairly obvious, that Korakuen Hall will see them get their shot at Honori and Unagi for the Beyond The Sea Tag Team Titles.

Click here if you want show reviews of SEAdLINNNG!

EVO is a new promotion founded in 2023 by a pair of puro hard-hitters, Shuji Ishikawa and Suwama. It was re-branded in 2025. Despite removing “joshi” from its name, it is still built around its four key joshi talents in Chi Chi, ZONES, Soy and Chika. The shows, which are streamed live on their service for only ¥500 (the cheapest of all services), are held at Shin-Kiba 1st RING once a month, with Shinjuku FACE being an alternative a few times a year. The cards will regularly have matches with Ishikawa, Suwama and other puro freelancers such as Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura, so it’s a fun promotion to follow if you prefer mixed shows.

 Recommended Matches:

• Ayame Sasamura vs. Chi Chi – 10th June at Shin-Kiba 1st RING

EVO’s two Shin-Kiba shows in June and July made clear how much the promotion’s direction has shifted since its integration under the same parent company as 2AW back in March. The headline was Ayame Sasamura winning the title over Chi Chi, capping off a stiff, forearm-heavy war that lived up to the pair’s earlier meeting in 2AW in February. With Chi Chi having already left the promotion to go freelance ahead of the match, it makes sense for the belt to now sit with someone from 2AW instead, especially with Ayame being one of the best workers in the scene right now.

That direction only got clearer in July, when 2AW’s Yuka Satsuki came through the six-way No. 1 Contender’s match, eliminating Soy in the final two to earn the next shot at Ayame. It’s a sensible pick given Satsuki and Ayame share a promotion, and the two have already had a good match together in 2AW recently. With Chi Chi now on the outside looking in as a freelancer, EVO looks to be regearing its title picture around 2AW’s talent, with Chika and Soy still hanging around as the other names in the mix underneath.

Click here if you want show reviews of EVO!

Once the engine room of the entire joshi scene and a promotion as big as STARDOM during the early 2010s, Ice Ribbon are now in a long re-building phase. Despite that, the product remains vibrant and enjoyable, with one of the best joshi of the 2010s in Tsukasa Fujimoto playing a key role in its production, despite her extended break from in-ring activity. Their dojo, based in Saitama, regularly holds classes for children and they are very active in recruiting wrestlers, including through theatre groups they support such as Venus. They also run regular shows at the dojo, uploaded to their YouTube days later for £8.99/month. The bigger shows are held a few times a month and can be bought on their service for around ¥3500, or you can buy a ¥1000/month subscription to watch them all a month later. If you really want a history lesson of Ice Ribbon, there is a book written about it, in English, by Charles Short.

Recommended Matches:

• Kaho Matsushita vs. Yuuka – 20th June at Kitazawa Town Hall
• Haruka Umesaki & Yuuka vs. Kirari Wakana & Miku Kanae – 4th July at Ice Ribbon Dojo
• Hikari Minami & Sumika Yanagawa vs. Kaho Matsushita & Yuuka – 28th June at Itabashi Green Hall
• Hikari Minami & Riko vs. Makoto & Sumika Yanagawa – 20th June at Kitazawa Town Hall
• Kaho Matsushita & Kirari Wakana vs. Nanami Hatano & Yuuka – 6th June at Ice Ribbon Dojo
• Sumika Yanagawa vs. Yuuka – 31st May at Yokohama Sambo Hall

Ice Ribbon’s 20th anniversary show at Kitazawa Town Hall on 20th June lived up to the occasion in the ring, even if the venue itself told a different story. The main event between Kaho Matsushita and Yuuka for the ICExInfinity Title was excellent, building cleanly off the arm work Kaho had been doing to Yuuka across the preceding dojo shows. Kaho continues to look like one of the best young workers around. Mystic Eclipse (Makoto & Sumika Yanagawa) retained the International Ribbon Tag Team Titles over Hikari Minami and 12-year-old Riko. Most importantly (for me), Manami Katsu made her return teaming up with Mio Shirai. It was one of Ice Ribbon’s stronger shows of the year, though it was held at a fairly small venue for a promotion celebrating two decades, a point that is not lost on a particular someone…

That situation is exactly what’s driving Tsukasa Fujimoto’s return. She’d already confirmed in a Shupro #2403 interview that she was targeting a comeback within 2026, motivated specifically by wanting the 20th anniversary to feel like the landmark it should be, and voicing her frustration at a disconnect between her own ambitions and president Hajime Sato’s more cautious approach given the promotion’s current scale. She confirmed at the anniversary show itself that her return will come on 15th August at Itabashi Green Hall. In a more recent interview with HypeTalkTV, she expanded on that motivation, explaining that she wants to help restore Ice Ribbon to its old standing as one of the bigger companies in joshi, pointing out that the promotion has gone from running six or more Korakuen Hall shows a year down to just one. She also named Kaho and Yuuka as the two wrestlers she sees as capable of carrying the ace spot once she’s gone, which put a nice bow on the singles match they’d already had at the “20th Anniversary” show. That also tied neatly into Yuuka’s own comments at her birthday dojo show on 4th July, where she set herself the goal of winning the Tokyo Sports Women’s Wrestling Grand Prix within three years, a tall order for anyone. Fujimoto, for her part, said in the HypeTalk TV interview that helping an Ice Ribbon wrestler win that award, clearly meaning Yuuka, is one of the things she wants to achieve before she eventually retires for good, alongside getting Kaho and Yuuka over as big a deal as possible and helping the promotion start packing out Korakuen Hall again.

Click here if you want show reviews of Ice Ribbon!

Diana was founded in 2011 by, you guessed it, another All Japan Women’s wrestler in Kyoko Inoue. Diana is based in Kawasaki, so while it’s not in Tokyo, it also isn’t too far away. Their dojo is regularly used by other promotions such as WAVE and has become a real “home arena” for the smaller joshi independents. They are celebrating their 15th anniversary with four big shows, sandwiched by their regular shows at their dojo, Post di Amistad, as well as a separate series focusing on the younger talent in the independent scene. For some reason, it is the least watched major joshi independent promotion despite it having a great roster of young talent and an easy-to-use streaming service. Diana is also a leading light in co-operating with other promotions, regularly lending talent to other promotions in Japan and even holding shows in Hokkaido with Hokuto Pro, Taiwan with New Taiwan Entertainment Wrestling and soon in Singapore with Grapplemax and Hiroshima with Wrestle BINGO. Their shows can be bought on their service for around ¥3500, or you can buy a ¥1000/month subscription to watch them all a month later, just like SEAdLINNNG and Ice Ribbon (you’ll notice the three websites all use a similar template).

Recommended Matches:

• Nanami Hatano vs. Selene Misora – 24th June at Post di Amistad
• Ayako Sato & Hanako Nakamori vs. Honoka & Miran – 7th June at Post di Amistad

Kyoko Inoue has stepped back from the president’s role to become chairwoman, with Taishi Fuwa, previously Director of Corporate Planning, taking over as the new president. I interviewed Taishi Fuwa, as well as Debbie Keitel, in my exclusive here.

On the roster side, Diana continues to add new and returning faces. Chi Chi made her promotion debut on 28th June, teaming with Kaho Kobayashi and picking up the win over Mizuki Kato with a leg lock submission, and the same show marked Syan Syan’s return from the injury she’d incurred on 8th February, teaming with her Grace of Royalty leader Haruka Umesaki and given plenty of time in the match to remind everyone what they’d missed. There’s also a new international addition on the way in Cory Zero, from France, who joins for a tour following Diana’s recent recruiting weekend in Paris where Debbie Keitel and Nanami Hatano wrestled at the Japan Expo alongside French promotion KHAO. On the trainee front, two prospects, Ami Hamana and Hiroko Tsubakimoto, went through their pro test on 5th July at Culttz Kawasaki.

Ace and double champion (at the time) Haruka Umesaki had a busy spring defending both her titles. On 4th May she retained the WWWD Title against her own Grace of Royalty stablemate Miran. Then on 31st May in Nagoya, she teamed with Chobuki partner Unagi Sayaka to retain the WWWD Tag Team Title against Nijumaru (Nanami Hatano & Rina Amikura), cementing her position at the top of the promotion. That same Nagoya show marked Mizuki Kato’s third homecoming, pairing up again with EVO’s Chika under matching gear from Yuu, a tag team that Meiko Satomura has been fond of since first putting them together on a Sendai Girls show back in March.

Diana’s 15th anniversary celebrations continued on 5th July at Culttz Kawasaki, the third of four big shows planned across the year. The headline match saw Umesaki lose up the WWWD Tag Team Title, as Ayaka (Ayako Sato & Hanako Nakamori) beat Chobuki in the main event, freeing Umesaki up to focus on the singles title going forward, a sensible call given how sparingly Unagi Sayaka had been working the promotion. The best match on the show, though, was Miran defending her WWWD Crystal Title against 15-year-old CoCo, one of the better matches I’ve seen between two wrestlers this young, with Miran retaining through a pair of springboard moonsaults in what was her third and final defence before the vacated title gets put up for grabs in a tournament (the title can only be defended three times consecutively).

Away from Diana, rookie Anna’s run in the WAVE tournament has been great, and she picked up her first and second wins there, which is both funny that they didn’t happen in Diana, but good for Anna and a sign of how far she’s come since debuting. Finally, a couple of housekeeping notes: Diana has launched a new international store for recordings and messages from roster members, and Sami has put together a new monthly highlights video for anyone wanting a visual catch up on each month, so subscribe to the Diana YouTube channel if that interests you.

Click here if you want show reviews of Diana!

If you’re familiar with the violent, hard-hitting WAVE from the 2010s, then forget about that. WAVE is a fun comedy promotion which puts a focus on trying to make shows as fun as possible for the live audience. One of their frequent gimmicks is to not announce cards in advance. Run by former wrestlers GAMI and Yumi Ohka, they have three young wrestlers under contract in Cohaku, Saran and Honoka. They are also probably the least accessible promotion we regularly cover, with all shows sold as PPVs costing at least ¥3500 and no archive available if you miss the one week window that the show is available for purchase in. If you feel like throwing money at a promotion, their shows are sold on the Confetti service. If you do not buy within days of the VOD releasing, it’s gone forever. WAVE don’t make it easy do they?

Recommended Matches:

• Cohaku vs. Honoka – 3rd July at Shinjuku FACE
• Haruka Umesaki vs. Honoka – 12th July at Korakuen Hall
• Saran vs. YuuRI – 6th June at Post di Amistad

WAVE’s Catch the WAVE 2026 Tournament wrapped up at Korakuen Hall on 12th July, with Diana’s ace Haruka Umesaki taking the trophy over her Ame-kyun tag partner Honoka in the final. Umesaki’s route there included a semi-final win over MIRAI. Honoka’s semi-final was the story of the night though, beating reigning Regina Di WAVE Champion Itsuki Aoki. The final itself was solid rather than spectacular, in keeping with Umesaki’s reputation as someone with a high floor and a low ceiling. Her win sets up a Regina Di WAVE Title match against Itsuki Aoki on 15th August at Korakuen Hall. Out of the final four, there wasn’t really a wrong answer. Itsuki could have won as champion, MIRAI could have won as a strong challenger for Itsuki, Umesaki is a well-known talent that does a lot of WAVE dates that can have a strong match with Itsuki, and Honoka would be an excellent choice for a winner, too.

If there was one standout performer across the whole tournament, it was MIRAI. She racked up match of the tournament calibre performances against Cohaku, Momoka Hanazono and Umesaki herself during the block stage, and her selling in certain matches was so good that they nearly got me even knowing the result going in. Honoka’s run deserves its own mention too. She beat Cohaku in probably the tournament’s biggest upset on 3rd July, then backed it up 9 days later by beating reigning champion Itsuki in the semi, two significant scalps for WAVE’s best young star. She didn’t win the tournament, but that run did a lot for her standing.

On the blocks themselves, Itsuki Aoki topped the Swell Block outright, with Kakeru Sekiguchi advancing on points. MIRAI and Cohaku finished level on 10 points in the Breaker Block, with MIRAI taking it on tiebreaker and Rina Amikura and Umesaki both progressing through the points system. YuuRI edged out Honoka on tiebreaker at the top of the Surge Block, both level on 11. The Young Block came down to a head to head final between Miria Koga and Miku Kanae, level at 12 points each, with Miria coming through, and she was one of the tournament’s best stories in her own right, looking as comfortable as she’s ever been in her career. The Elizabeth Block, which never quite got going as a story in the way the others did, was eventually won by Yumi Ohka, who came through from a rough 1-4 start.

A few matches from along the way are worth picking out if you’re after specific viewing, Cohaku’s upset loss to Honoka on 3rd July was the highlight of that show, and the final between Umesaki and Honoka is worth catching just to see the tournament wrap up.

Click here if you want show reviews of WAVE!

Actwres girl’Z, founded in 2015, are the most fascinating, underwatched and simultaneously most accessible promotion within our coverage. AWG has an all-inclusive subscription on their ¥1000/month service with a delay of a few days for all shows. All “Step” shows are held at Shin-Kiba 1st RING in Tokyo with full transcriptions of promos available online to follow storylines. In 2022, AWG underwent a significant relaunch under the direction of owner Keiji Sakaguchi. Breaking away from the traditional wrestling model, Sakaguchi declared that AWG was no longer professional wrestling, but rather “performing arts”. His reasoning was that since match outcomes are predetermined, the focus should shift from athletic competition to theatrical performance. As a result, AWG positioned itself outside the usual wrestling ecosystem. In the typically collaborative world of Joshi where inter-promotional matchups are common, AWG remains an outlier. With that being said, they are responsible for most of the prominent joshi in the scene today, a list of names too long to put here, but it includes Tam Nakano, Natsupoi and Saori Anou. If you like hard-hitting, dumb jock wrestling, with a side of rookie hazing, wrestlers sometimes shooting on each other, 3.1 kickouts, nonsensical booking, amazing rookie development and some of the best tag team wrestling in the scene, then AWG is for you.

Recommended Matches:

• Anri & Erisa Nagai vs. Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara – 11th July at Shin-Kiba 1st RING (My AWG #1 MOTY)
• Anri & Sakura Mizushima vs. Rico Fukunaga & Yukina Uehara – 21st June at Shin-Kiba 1st RING
• Nagisa Shiotsuki vs. Sakura Mizushima – 11th July at Shin-Kiba 1st RING
• Kana Yufuku & Marino Nishimura vs. Nene Arahata & Rico Fukunaga – 11th July at Shin-Kiba 1st RING
• Anri & Erisa Nagai vs. Kana Yufuku & Marino Nishimura – 13th June at Shin-Kiba 1st RING
• Yukina Uehara vs. Yuri Yamane – 27th May at Shinjuku FACE

The main news coming out of the 13th June show was Rico Fukunaga, the former AWG Champion, losing her title in April 2026, announcing her retirement, due to take place on 14th August. This is a legitimate retirement and not a transfer to another promotion. She explicitly ruled out joining another company and also addressed speculation about leaving to get married, noting that while that would be a lovely reason, it was unfortunately not the case. From her very first day in wrestling she had set herself a time limit and had been working towards it ever since, and this was not a decision she agonised over but a decisive step forward into the next phase of her life. She will remain with Actress Girls’ and plans to continue with Actring, so this was not a farewell. Backstage, Rico elaborated further. The timeline had been in her mind since day one in AWG, though it had been pushed back on a number of occasions. With the company now having more rookies, and not wanting to take attention away from the Natsuki retirement, the timing finally felt right. She also revealed that she had been close to retiring from acting entirely during COVID before discovering AWG, which became what she considered the final chapter of her acting career. Six years on, she is ready to close that chapter and move towards new projects she has in the works.

Anri & Erisa Nagai, wrestling as Polaris, spent the last couple of months working their way towards a shot at the AWG Tag Team Titles, currently held by Harahara Red (Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara), and they finally locked up the #1 contendership on 13th June by beating Actwres 5’s Kana Yufuku & Marino Nishimura. The bigger story running through all of this, though, is Anri and Yukina themselves, and it’s the hottest thing going in AWG right now. The two have been racing each other since their debuts in late 2024, both having taken and lost AWG title shots early on in their careers, and their singles match last year is still one of the best AWG matches I have seen myself. Every time they share the ring it’s magic, and their 21st June preview tag, teaming Anri with Sakura Mizushima against Rico Fukunaga and Yukina, was another example. All of this built towards their AWG Tag Team Title match on 10th July which was amazing. The 10th July show was awesome, and it might be one of my favourite AWG cards in a long time. We have a full review.

Elsewhere, Yukina’s other notable outing recently came in a UWF rules match against rookie Yuri Yamane on 27th May, who came in with a kempo background. Yukina was clearly not interested in getting shown up by someone with legitimate martial arts credentials, closing things out by taking two points off Yuri before finishing her with an armbar. It’s a good example of how much Yukina’s UWF training has fed back into her regular matches this year.

Mari will be taking a break following the 14th August Korakuen Hall show as she needs surgery on an injury which she described as “1 in 24000”.

Click here if you want show reviews of AWG!

ChocoPro is a light-hearted promotion founded by the legendary Emi Sakura in 2012. It is her second promotion, after founding Ice Ribbon in 2006. They are most known for running shows at the small room covered mostly by a chocolate-coloured wrestling mat in Ichigaya, Tokyo, but they also run shows in regular arenas such as TOKYOSQUARE and Shin-Kiba 1st RING at least once a month. All shows are uploaded for free on their YouTube.

ChocoPro’s headline story from this period was the long awaited singles match between Best Bros teammates Baliyan Akki and Mei Suruga in the main event of the 24th May Shinjuku FACE show, Mei’s 8th anniversary show. The pair hadn’t wrestled each other in a singles match since 2020, and the match had already been scrapped once when Mei fell ill ahead of a planned bout at “ChocoPro #500” back in January. It was worth the wait. What made it work was the chemistry unique to these two, Akki growing more frustrated and stiff as Mei kept throwing chaos at him, and Mei refusing to back down for a second, all of it grounded rather than played purely for laughs, even in its lighter moments. It was a magnificent match. That result fed into the next big date on the horizon, with Mei facing her student Miya Yotsuba on 14th July. It was a rematch of their meeting almost exactly a year earlier in July 2025, when Mei beat Miya to defend her Super Asia Title, although this time the roles were reversed, with Miya looking to strengthen her run at the top of the promotion as champion by defending against Mei.

Hagane Shinnou is back after four months out with a knee injury.

Click here if you want show reviews of ChocoPro!

Recommended Matches:

• Kuroshio TOKYO Japan vs. Ryunosuke Nagai – 11th July at TOKYOSQUARE
• Aran Sano & Sho Mizuno vs. Masato Tanaka & Yuki Toki – 4th July at Azalea Taisho Hall
• Hayabusa & Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Reiya Igarashi & Violento Jack – 5th July at KBS Hall
• Masato Tanaka vs. Shuji Ishikawa – 5th July at KBS Hall
• Ryunosuke Nagai vs. Shuji Ishikawa – 13th June at Shin-Kiba 1st RING

ZERO1 finished their interpromotional rivalry with 2AW with two wins, two losses and a draw. In the last match on 6th June, Hayabusa and Masato Tanaka faced Naka Shuma and Kengo Mashimo from 2AW. The match ended with Tanaka knocking out three of Naka’s teeth with a Sliding D for the win (for shoot).

The Fire Festival Tournament kicked off on 13th June at Shin-Kiba 1st RING. The tournament is a two-block round-robin league, with the winner of A Block facing the winner of the B Block in the final on 7th August at Korakuen Hall. In the A Block is Masato Tanaka, ZERO1 Heavyweight Champion Junya Matsunaga, Shuji Ishikawa (EVO), Kuroshio TOKYO Japan (Up Town Wrestling), Kuma Arashi (AJPW) and Ryunosuke Nagai (Mitsuya Nagai’s son who debuted against Go Shiozaki in December 2025). The B Block will be contested by last year’s winner Hayabusa, Katsuhiko Nakajima (freelancer), Daichi Hashimoto (BJW), Tsugutaka Sato, Koji Doi (freelancer) and Yuko Miyamoto (freelancer). Miyamoto replaced Chris Vice who was injured in training. Miyamoto also replaced Daisuke Sekimoto the year prior in similar circumstances. During the press conference on 28th May, Nakajima said that he was excited to face ZERO1 wrestler Yuki Toki, although Toki is not in the tournament.

On 13th June, Koji Doi picked up the first win of the tournament in the B Block against Tsugutaka Sato. This was all about those stiff lariats given to each other. They were so good. Shuji Ishikawa went to war against Ryunosuke Nagai in the A Block in a great match that’s worth checking out, especially if you’re into watching wrestlers early in their career. Nagai is a big beefy boy who isn’t afraid to get hit and hit veterans, has a fiery attitude and is worth keeping an eye on. ZERO1 was smart in putting him in this tournament. In the other A Block match, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan lost to Masato Tanaka in another great match, making it three for three in my book. The main event was Hayabusa taking on Katsuhiko Nakajima. This was a rematch from their bout on 20th March. I much preferred this match. Nakajima looked a bit unhinged as he lit Hayabusa up with his famous kicks. There was a certain edge to him this time that was missing last time. There was also a shock win as Hayabusa won with a new move, a wrist-clutch Falcon Arrow. On 21st June, Daichi Hashimoto beat Yuko Miyamoto in a match I thought would never end. It ended on a double count out at almost 15 minutes. A brutal match to watch during a heatwave in my country with no air con available. In the other match on the show, they only managed to upload the first five minutes of the video so I only saw two minutes of grappling. I am not going back to re-watch it. It was a 30-minute time-limit draw. Maybe it was for the best (no offence to Junya). On the next show on 28th June, Arashi and Tanaka beat the crap out of each other. Tanaka hit a Sliding D, but Arashi sort of kicked out before 3 but the pin was counted. It’s hard to know what was intended. The main event was Jiro against Junya. The match went at a snail’s pace, with Jiro working over Junya’s arm. The 4th July show had an awesome Osaka Pro offer show with Aran Sano & Sho Mizuno vs. Masato Tanaka & Yuki Toki where Sho Mizuno looked out of this world, while the 5th July show in Kyoto booked FREEDOMS duo Reiya Igarashi & Violento Jack against Hayabusa & Katsuhiko Nakajima, and Nakajima looked the best he has in ZERO1 destroying rookie Reiya with kicks. Tanaka and Ishikawa bled buckets in a wonderfully violent, headbutt-clonking double KO in Kyoto. Jiro against rookie Nagai was awesome on 11th July. It was a match made for me. Jiro was hilarious and made Nagai look awesome.

—

Fire Festival Tournament 2026 Standings as of 11th July (W-L-D)

Block A

• Junya Matsunaga — 5 pts (2-0-1)
• Masato Tanaka — 5 pts (2-0-1)
• Shuji Ishikawa — 5 pts (2-0-1)
• Kuma Arashi — 3 pts (1-2-1)
• Kuroshio TOKYO Japan — 2 pts (1-2-0)
• Ryunosuke Nagai — 0 pts (0-4-0)

Block B

• Koji Doi — 5 pts (2-2-1)
• Katsuhiko Nakajima — 4 pts (2-1-0)
• Yuko Miyamoto — 4 pts (1-1-2)
• Daichi Hashimoto — 3 pts (1-1-1)
• Tsugutaka Sato — 2 pts (1-2-0)
• Hayabusa — 2 pts (1-2-0)

Rose Girls is a brand new promotion headed up by legendary former wrestler Megumi Kudo, who also serves as the GM of ZERO1, the promotion which Rose is a part of. The official launch of the promotion was 25th April 2026 at TOKYOSQUARE. There are currently three contracted wrestlers, its main star Yuki Mashiro and two rookies, Konomi Hori and another joshi trainee who was announced on the 10th November show, named Mariko Nanase, whose debut was pushed back due injury. As they build out their division, they are reliant on resourcing from the independent scene, and have been working regularly with VENY, Kaho Kobayashi, Mei Suruga, CoCo, Honoka and Miku Kanae, as well as others. The cards are solid and serve their niche in the scene as no-nonsense showcases of the independent scene, building cards around talent such as Mashiro, CoCo and Honoka, pairing them with established veterans. However, accessibility is a major issue, requiring you to download a phone app. The streams are embedded into the app which also means it’s difficult for you to watch them “free” even if you wanted to! You only need the “Silver” tier for the streams (1000¥/month).

Rose Girls returned for their first show since 9th May when they crowned their inaugural Rose World Champion, RIKO. RIKO won the title in a battle royal, and after the match, GM Megumi Kudo mentioned how she’d prefer future matches to be singles matches. Clearly, that only applied to the Rose World Title itself as on this show she booked a No. 1 Contender battle royal between CoCo, Leon, Mei Suruga, Miku Kanae, Momoka Hanazono, Rina Amikura, Ryoko Sakimura, SAKI, Sumika Yanagawa and Uta Shima. I will be honest, battle royales need to die in a hole. They are really hard to get right, and when I saw the video was 44 minutes long, I did not expect to enjoy this at all. But I had fun! It was a really easy watch, which is hard to do at that length. I can’t exactly recommend it, but it was great.

Rather than recap everything, I will just mention my favourite parts of this thirty-plus minute match. Leon and CoCo had a great exchange, and it looked like Leon was having a lot of fun wrestling CoCo. Despite my beef with PURE-J, Leon is excluded from it; she’s awesome. Mei Suruga and Miku Kanae also crossed paths, and can I get a singles match between those two, please? CoCo and Mei worked together for a stretch, and I have spoken a lot in the past about those two and their relationship. Momoka Hanazono jumped on the entire roster thinking she was going to wipe them all out, only to get caught like an idiot and scream “chotto matte kudasai” (basically “hang on, hang on”). They eventually dropped her, after which Momoka convinced everyone to do the ‘fighting on people’s shoulders’ spot, splitting the twelve into three teams: CoCo’s team, Miku’s team, and then just Momoka and Leon, who of course won the battle. There was also a crying spot involving Momoka, Miku, Mei, CoCo and Rina Amikura, with SAKI playing the bully. Later, CoCo turned on Mei once she had used her to get rid of enough people, and the exchanges between Miku and CoCo were cool as anything, with Miku eliminating CoCo in the final five.

That left Mei, SAKI, Momoka and Miku as the final four, and I was begging for Mei or Miku to take it. Mei against RIKO sounded like an insane match, though RIKO against Miku also sounded cool. SAKI got tricked by the toy dog, and when Momoka stepped on it, it was SAKI’s turn to start crying, which was fun. The last two were Miku and Momoka, and I was fully behind Miku. Miku started crying to stop Momoka’s aerial attack, and the crowd wanted Momoka to apologise. Instead, Momoka superkicked Miku and laughed at the crowd, but her diving double foot stomp was dodged. Miku grabbed one of Momoka’s party poppers, hit her with it, and then won with a double rollthrough jackknife. Awesome finish. Momoka’s face afterwards was pure “Well, that just happened”, which was perfect selling.

Chi Chi & Cohaku faced Magenta (Maria & RIKO) in the semi-main event. This match wasn’t as good as the match with Magenta against Miku Kanae and Yuki Mashiro on the debut show, but it was still pretty good. This one had a bit more fun and a bit less wrestling, for example Cohaku sitting in the audience pretending to be a fan at one point cheering Chi Chi on. That was when I knew this would be a 20 min-limit draw.

PPP Venus Of Party The Woman’s Champion Chanyota and her student, rookie Non Toraga, faced off against the all-star freelancer team of Hiroyo Matsumoto & VENY. If you haven’t seen Toraga before, she’s more of a power wrestler, but she’s a rookie with less than a year’s experience so she’s still figuring things out. It was fun seeing VENY attempt to no-sell some of Chanyota’s lariats, who doesn’t take any shit herself and just makes her want to hit harder. As with all top-tier freelancers who don’t really get on much in the ring due to their competitiveness, Matsumoto and VENY misfired on multiple occasions. Toraga got a lot of kickouts as they clearly made an attempt to highlight her, but she was choked out by Matsumoto.

In the opener, Rose rookie Konomi Hori faced 2AW rookie Yuka Satsuki. It feels unfair to call Yuka a rookie too. She is, by all definitions, but she is an absolutely excellent pro wrestler who understands and gets it, whereas Konomi on the other hand is still very green and inexperienced. Where reps is important for someone like Konomi, she does not get many chances to do live matches given the infrequency of events compared to other promotions. It does mean that I barely have anything to say on any Konomi match given how basic they are. She has added a cool crossbody to her arsenal, I guess.

Recommended Matches:

• Fuminori Abe & Kohei Sato vs. Reiya Igarashi & Ryuma Sekimo – 25th May at Korakuen Hall

BJW will be winding down their BJW Core service and transitioning fully to their paid YouTube members’ channel in August 2026.

BJW returned for their monthly Korakuen Hall show on 25th May. Kohei Sato and Fuminori Abe took on Abe’s protege and BJW rookie Ryuma Sekimo, who teamed with new FREEDOMS rookie Reiya Igarashi. This match was total chaos. It was the rookies trying their best to do some damage and getting totally destroyed by Sato and Abe with shoot headbutts and stiff forearms. It was uncomfortable to watch at times. The crowd’s shrieks would indicate they also were watching through gaps in the fingers like me. At one point, Abe just holds Reiya to allow Sato to headbutt him. I’d not seen Abe as ruthless as this for quite some time, and it was quite awesome. Reiya tried to fight back with knees to Sato’s gut while he was downed, and Sato just stood up and destroyed Reiya with the stiffest knees you’ll see. I only watch a few BJW shows each month to keep tabs on it, and I will never miss an Abe & Sekimo match. When I saw Sato and Reiya here too, I thought it was a must-see, and it delivered. Uncomfortable, gruesome, disgusting, but awesome. The feud continued on the subsequent Korakuen on 26th June with Sato facing Reiya & Ryuma once again. It was less violent as this was the match to show that they had more fighting spirit, so they got in a lot of offense and lengthy submissions.

Also on the same show, Koshiro Asakura made his return to Korakuen Hall with BJW after a lengthy time on the injury bench. He was injured trying to lift the very heavy Ryota Hama on 27th July 2025 at Korakuen Hall. He took part in the ongoing BJW vs. Outsiders feud having lost to former BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion So Daimonji multiple times on the tour stops in May. Outsiders is led by Daimonji, including Minoru Fujita, Daichi Hashimoto, Hideyoshi Kamitani, Jacob Crane (back in Europe), and the guy who had allegations of engaging in sexual activities with a 16-year-old fan at his home, Joji Otani. Otani was not indicted and there was no complaint from the victim filed, so nothing happened after his one-week detention. Asakura lost once again to the Outsiders after some miscommunications with the current BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion Kazumasa Yoshida, both representing BJW. After the match, Asakura and Yoshida exchanged some harsh words with each other indicating some in-fighting in the BJW faction. This set up a singles match for the future. CIMA joined The Outsiders and will debut on 25th July.

In the main event, Abdullah Kobayashi & Masaya Takahashi faced Rina Yamashita & Ryuji Ito in a lighttubes deathmatch. Yamashita was on a wild one in this match, with a full crimson mask a minute in and doing un-assisted bumps on lighttubes just for fun. This was a pretty great light tubes match, throwing bunches of tubes at each other, eating them to break them in half, all the good stuff. After the match Yamashita mentioned the empty orange seats and that she wants to get BJW fired up and will keep appearing at the Korakuen Hall shows. Backstage, Takahashi and Kobayashi were crying about having to wrestle a woman and said that it makes pro wrestling a lie. Yamashita barged in and said, “You guys just sit in the same spot and do nothing, none of it matters whether you’ve got a d*ck or a p*ssy! I’m going to change all of that and that’s why you lost today.” So they are obviously using it for heat, which I don’t mind as long as Yamashita comes out on top. After winning on the June Korakuen Hall show, Yamashita set up a match for the BJW Death Match Heavyweight Title on 31st July at Korakuen Hall. In the June match, at one point she poured a Lemon Sour bought from the Korakuen concession stand all over Ito & Kobayashi. After the match, Kobayashi relented and said that he would “allow” Yamashita to challenge for the belt, the first woman to challenge for it in its 30-year history. He acknowledged her crazy popularity with the fans and the fact she had not been pinned in BJW all year.

T-Hawk won the G-CLASS 2026 Tournament on 4th June at Shinjuku FACE, overcoming Kaito Ishida in the final. As soon as Ishida started working over T-Hawk’s leg I already knew the result. Nevertheless, there were some awesome kickouts on the last few nearfalls which got a huge reaction out of the crowd. He lost his subsequent G-REX Title challenge against El Lindaman on 1st July in a pretty solid match. The show was GLEAT’s 5th Anniversary show at the brand new SGC Hall Ariake. It is a new venue that opened within Tokyo Dream Park on 27th March. Dream Park opened in 2025, so this is the first time SGC Hall has hosted wrestling. It has a capacity of 5,000, so probably subtract a few thousand for pro-wrestling set up. The attendance looked pretty sparse, probably much less than 1,000 but more than 500.

In the undercard, Kapii & Van Vert Jack became the #1 contender to the G-INFINITY Tag Team Title, held by Black Generation (Kaito Ishida & Kazma Sakamoto). As a new member of Papapa Reiwa Party, Hikari Noa appeared in her second match since her return, teaming with Papapa teammates Ayame Sasamura, Misa Kagura & Unagi Sayaka against Azusa Inaba, Chanyota, Marika Kobashi and GLEAT’s MICHIKO. The Team NOAH (Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara, Kaito Kiyomiya & Mohammed Yone) vs. Team GLEAT (Hayato Tamura, Junjie, Ryuichi Kawakami & Takehiro Yamamura) match was quite good. Takanori Ito KO’d Daisuke Sekimoto with a sick straitjacket German suplex to retain his Lidet UWF Title. Kaz Hayashi returned in a one-night only match, teaming with Minoru Tanaka against Kotaro Suzuki and Naomichi Marufuji.

Also on the 4th June show was the UWF Tag Team re-match between Takanori Ito & Tetsuya Izuchi against Daisuke Sekimoto & Hideki “Shrek” Sekine. In the first match weeks prior, Sekimoto legit (I think) KO’d Izuchi on a lariat in around one minute. I thought they should immediately call back to this and tease it happening again (as a work), but Ito and Shrek started the match, perhaps so they could actually wrestle each other this time. Sekimoto didn’t get into the match until like 5 minutes in. I don’t understand how you miss such an easy layup. Sekimoto is quite clearly the star of this match and has an in-built story following from the first match. He tagged in later, but then Sekimoto TKO’d Ito with a lariat, the same way he KO’d Izuchi the week before! Sekimoto and Izuchi didn’t even touch! I was so confused! This was obviously to build up a UWF Title match with Sekimoto and champion Ito, but then why not just have Sekimoto and Izuchi wrestle for a couple of minutes at the start of the match? Do you know how hard it is to get me excited for a GLEAT undercard match? They did it! Accidentally, but still. And then this was the follow-up. Whatever. I’ve already written too much about this GLEAT undercard match. I also watched SBK vs. Soma Watanabe on the undercard. SBK has been working in Mexico with AAA since his Dragongate departure and GLEAT are officially partnered with AAA. Soma had an unfortunate slip on the ropes when trying a springboard dropkick. The crowd started laughing. The match was pretty fun, especially if you like seeing some bare ass and a few mishaps.

Jo Yamamoto’s debut took place on 20th June at Kitazawa Town Hall against Hayato Tamura. He joined GLEAT because of his admiration for Tamura.

Brass Knuckles JUN has “left” GLEAT, with his contract being mutually terminated. The press release was kayfabe’d, with GLEAT saying he came into Suzuki’s office calling him a “scrub” and demanding to leave. It sounded like a work. Stay tuned. Or don’t.

Recommended Matches:

• Saira vs. Yusuke Kodama – 23rd May at TOKYOSQUARE
• Minoru Suzuki vs. Saira & Saito – 12th June at Shinjuku FACE

Up Town held “Level Up #2” on 23rd May at TOKYOSQUARE, with the show released on GAORA on 29th May. It was a great show from top to bottom. The show was notable for the debut of Saira, which we mentioned in the last issue but only got to watch the match for this issue. The clip of her doing a Shooting Star Press in her debut went viral, but I wanted to see other parts of the match. As a reminder, she is a 17-year-old parkour idol. For more details, see the update in the last issue in the Miscellaneous Japan Independents section. As an update on her background, she is a huge Sendai Girls fan and attended their wrestling school when she was a child. Saira was announced for their 12th July Xebio Arena show in Sendai. On her debut, she went up against Up Town and 666 regular Yusuke Kodama. Well, I think she’s the real deal. It wasn’t just the Shooting Star Press. She was doing front flips to avoid Kodama, casadora armdrags, flying headscissors (a beautiful one) and full-speed hurricanranas. I mean, more than anyone would be doing on her debut at 17 years old. She immediately made me think she has Miran or CoCo-level potential in terms of her athletic ability in the ring. There was a springboard moonsault she did where she rotated so quickly that it ended up being a double knee drop onto Kodama’s head. She also had a Tokyo Sports article discussing her recent performances which noted that she successfully hit a Phoenix Splash at the first attempt in training and that she one day wanted to perform Ricochet’s double moonsault, considered one of the hardest acrobatic moves in wrestling.

On the same show, Dragongate legend and WON Hall of Famer CIMA stepped in for injured Up Town rookie Nobuhiko Kimura, pretending to be a rookie against FREEDOMS rookie Reiya Igarashi. The crowd were chanting “Nobuhiko” at him and cheering him on as if he was a rookie. This was far better than anything he did in GLEAT because he actually moves like a rookie. It was really fun. Of course he won the upset victory. Saito was extremely impressive in her singles against Momoka, not falling for any of her gimmicks, running her toy cat over with a remote control toy truck, smacking the truck over her head (pretty hard) and then launching her with a German suplex. I had not seen Saito like that before at all.

On 12th June, Up Town was at Shinjuku FACE for Seigo Tachibana’s 10th anniversary. The show was all centered around him, as he wrestled multiple matches and finished the show as the new Up Town Champion, defeating Hayato Tamura in the main event. It was a good match with the crowd desperately wanting him to win. There were multiple run-ins, with Momoka & Ogawa saving Tachibana, and then Danshoku Dieno and Yosuke Santa Maria kissing Tamura, leading to the Yankee Hammer finish. There was a huge pop for the finish. After the match, he was presented with gifts by the rest of the Up Town roster, and his parents came out to celebrate with him, which moved him to tears. Aside from that, Tachibana lost to Danshoku Dieno and Yosuke Santa Maria in a handicap match and also posed with Stan Hansen (the real one). Elsewhere, due to Shiono’s retirement, Saira took her place in the seven-match series alongside Saito. This time, they had to go up against Minoru Suzuki in a two-on-one handicap. It was pretty awesome with the whole crowd getting behind Saito and Saira and Minoru being a total asshole. There was a gigantic pop when Saito managed to bodyslam Minoru, with the entire Shinjuku FACE screaming, “Saito!” in unison.

Recommended Matches:

• Ali Najima, Daisuke Ikeda & Kazunari Murakami vs. Fuminori Abe, Shuji Ishikawa & Yuki Ishikawa – 1st July at Shinjuku FACE
• Ali Najima & Hinata Kasai vs. Kosuke Sato & Ryuma Sekimo – 1st July at Shinjuku FACE

As reported a couple of issues ago, The Astronauts’ (Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura) company, Kakuto Tanteidan (KTDan) will be running a show on 1st July event at Shinjuku FACE titled “Kakuto Tanteidan V ~ONE LAST DANCE: SHINJUKU~”. The first match on the card was Ali Najima & Hinata Kasai against Kosuke Sato & Ryuma Sekimo. Sekimo is a BJW rookie who is Abe’s protégé, he got into business after being inspired by The Astronauts’ 2023 version of the show. Hinata asked Abe if he could train with him, and Abe and Sekimo also train with Najima who is like a “little senior” to them both. Sato is the BJW Junior Heavyweight Champion, so he is a senior to Sekimo. It was contested under BattlARTS Rules, which KT is obviously heavily influenced by (the shoot-style hard-hitting style from the late 90s to early 00s pioneered by Daisuke Ikeda, Yuki Ishikawa and others). Seeing Hinata in this context compared to his DDT work was hilarious (in a good way). He showed so much fire and intensity, but not as much as his training partner, Sekimo, who was completely unhinged. This match was so amazing if you’ve followed each of these rookie’s journeys. I absolutely loved it. All four were on fire and wanted to prove a point. As Najima got the submission win on Ryuma, he was selected for the main event, and backstage he said he was going to “kill Abe”.

Speaking of which, Daisuke Ikeda, Ali Najima and Kazunari Murakami faced Abe, Shuji Ishikawa and Yuki Ishikawa in the main event, also under BattlARTS Rules (of course). Hikaru Sato was meant to be in the match but due to the aforementioned injury, was replaced by Najima. When Abe was asked why he didn’t just book another notable wrestler instead of re-using wrestlers from the opener, Abe said that anyone can imitate bachi-bachi, but he wanted wrestlers that he trained with and knew they could handle and capture the essence of the genre. He also said they were young enough to be able to do multiple matches. This was simply a celebration of some of the best wrestlers at this particular style as a send off for Shinjuku FACE before it closes in September. If you don’t like shoot headbutts, this match is not for you. I saw almost every variation of shoot headbutt possible. I don’t mind shoot headbutts, and I had to watch this match wincing. Not only that, but Abe’s closed fist punches were doing some serious damage, opening up Murakami the hard way. Murakami returned fire with a penalty kick that knocked Abe out. This was gruesome, violent and chaotic, everything you want a KTDan main event to be.

[For those interested, Yuki Ishikawa has started a YouTube channel. In the first episode, he has a long conversation with Daisuke Ikeda about the past. Importantly, it has English subtitles.]

Elsewhere, there was a standard pro-wrestling match sponsored by Shawn Capture (Ikuto Hidaka’s promotion based in Shimane that he runs alongside Itsuki Aoki): Ikuto Hidaka, Itsuki Aoki & Maika Ozaki against Kakeru Sekiguchi, Masked Hokakudo and Rina Amikura. All are Shawn Capture regulars. Hidaka works with Abe in the KT office. The semi-main event was the unique Keita Yano against Minoru Fujita, putting on a match only they could do. There were submission moves in that match I had never seen before. Yano said that Zack Sabre Jr. wanted to run back their match but with BattleARTS rules instead. Yano said he wouldn’t run away from that challenge and would discuss it with Abe.

Nomura, who hasn’t wrestled since 6th August 2025 due to a kidney issue, was absent. He is currently living a comfortable day-to-day life, on the mend but not rushing to come back.

Recommended Matches:

• Daichi Satoh, Kazuma Kimura & Kazumasa Yoshida vs. Hiroto Tsuruya, Koshiro Asakura & Yuki Ishida – 12th May at Shinjuku FACE
• Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Yuto Koyanagi – 12th May at Shinjuku FACE
• Daiki Nagai, Daiki Odashima & Ilusion vs. Kazuma Sumi, Munetatsu Nakamura & Ryoya Tanaka – 12th May at Shinjuku FACE

With the aim of “developing and revitalising the world of professional wrestling”, eight promotions from the United Japan Pro-Wrestling Association took part at an inter-promotional event featuring young wrestlers titled “FACE THE NEXT” event at Shinjuku FACE on 12th May. The participating promotions were NJPW, BJW, NOAH, DDT, Dragongate, Kyushu Pro, FREEDOMS, and Ganbare Pro Wrestling. The show was finally uploaded in July to NJPW’s World streaming service. I mean, this show was booked specifically for me. Not only do I love rookies, but I love the specific rookies booked on this show. I won’t go through every single match or participant, but it was really a collection of the scene’s best young talent and a window into how bright the future looks. In the opener, NOAH rookie Yuto Koyanagi faced New Japan Young Lion Tatsuya Matsumoto. Koyanagi is the next Daiki Odashima. If you know, you know. This match was awesome. The third match was an eight-man tag GuC (DG), Reiya Igarashi (FREEDOMS), Rukiya (DDT) & Taisei Nakahara (NJPW) against Katsumi Inahata (NOAH), Masatora Yasuda (NJPW), Ryuma Sekimo (BJW) & Shota Kawakami (GanPro). Reiya and Sekimo tag together in BJW, and they were great against each other.

Daichi Satoh (DDT), Kazuma Kimura (DG) & Kazumasa Yoshida (BJW) took on Hiroto Tsuruya (NOAH), Koshiro Asakura (BJW) & Yuki Ishida (DDT) in a six-man tag. It was hilarious that Yoshida is the BJW Strong World Heavyweight Champion and teaming with rookies like Kazuma Kimura and facing off against one of own promotion’s rookies in Koshiro Asakura. He was definitely the most out-of-place wrestler on this card. On the other hand, Kimura is so good that you would not think he is a rookie. The highlight of the match though was Daichi against Koshiro in a big beefy boy showdown. Each would not budge for the other and it was everything I wanted. The semi-main event was Dragongate’s standout young talent Homare against one of DDT’s own best young talents, Yuya Koroku which was a pretty great match that highlighted both wrestler’s strengths well, although we’ve seen better matches from Koroku. Finally, the main event was all the premium young talent in the scene: Daiki Nagai (NJPW), Daiki Odashima (NOAH) and Ilusion (DDT) taking on Kazuma Sumi (DDT), Munetatsu Nakamura (GanPro) and Ryoya Tanaka (Dragongate). Ilusion is maybe the name that sticks out there the most, but honestly he is probably the best character worker out of all the young guys, and not only that, but he had his working boots on in this match and perhaps was the star of the show. He was awesome. Of course, Ryoya was also great as probably the best in-ring wrestler out of all young talent in the scene. It capped off an incredible show from top to bottom.

Recommended Matches:

• Aran Sano & Tigers Mask vs. Takoyakida & Ultimate Spider Jr. – Osaka Pro, 7th June at Azalea Taisho Hall
• Ultimate Spider Jr. vs. SUZAKU – Osaka Pro, 5th July at Azalea Taisho Hall

Takoyakida & Ultimate Spider Jr. celebrated their 21st and 20th anniversaries respectively as they challenged and beat Aran Sano & Tigers Mask for the OPW Tag Team Title in the main event on 7th June. Tigers Mask was his usual, grumpy, 49-year-old self, kicking and beating the absolute crap out of the crowd favourite team. He’s one of the best veterans at playing the “insurmountable wall” role on the independent scene. These teams gave everything for this match in front of a couple of hundred people, which is one of the best parts of independent wrestling.

At “Summer Battle 2026”, Aran Sano picked up a huge win over freelancer Shigehiro Irie in the semi-main event in a six-man tag. As with every single Osaka Pro main event, the heat during this match was off the charts, with the loyal Osaka Pro audience and a bunch of kids screaming their heads off. After the match, he called out his VerteX unit partner Ryuya Matsufusa and challenged him for his Osaka Pro Title (the top title). The match will take place at “Castle Festival” on 20th July at TT Hall, one of Osaka Pro’s biggest shows of the year. The show saw Ultimate Spider Jr. drop the Osaka Pro Light Heavyweight Title SUZAKU in the main event. Yasutaka Oosera will be the next challenger at “Castle Festival”.

PURE-J was created in 2017 by Commander Bolshoi from the ashes of Japanese Women Pro-Wrestling Project (JWP), and so it is a long-lost cousin of Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling-X (LLPW-X). PURE-J are a company that are probably the least reported on in the scene, despite drawing almost double Ice Ribbon’s numbers at Korakuen Hall. The fact it is so off the radar that people don’t bother pirating their shows uploaded to YouTube lands the promotion in an infinite loop of obscurity. There are a few talents on the roster that make it worth following the promotion, with Crea being the standout. PURE-J have a similar distribution model to Ice Ribbon including dojo shows, although PURE-J’s bigger shows get uploaded to YouTube for £8.99/month rather than a PPV on a streaming website.

Recommended Matches:

• Crea vs. Rydeen Hagane – 6th June at Itabashi Green Hall

Crea’s rivalry with Rydeen Hagane has been the story of the last few weeks, and for good reason. Going into 6th June’s “Rainbow Unicorn Vol. 6,” Crea had lost all 17 of her previous singles matches with Rydeen, which is quite a record for someone widely regarded (by me) as PURE-J’s best wrestler. That match finally broke the streak, though not with a win, Crea battled through a lariat so hard hitting that her sell of it had me questioning whether it was a shoot, and the two fought to a draw. Two weeks later at “Vol. 7” they ran it back for a 19th time, and Crea got the job done properly, catching Rydeen with a running boot for the win. It wasn’t the most intense of their matches, but there were some lovely strikes and a German suplex where Crea looked like she was deadlifting Rydeen’s much bigger frame. 18 matches and a draw for one solitary win is a long road, but hey, maybe a title win for Crea is finally on the horizon this year (L-O-L).

Hanako Nakamori’s month was a bit up and down. On 6th June, in a non-title mixed tag, she ended up on the wrong side of a pin from her own Daily Sports Certified Tag Team Championship partner Kaho Kobayashi, who caught her with the 120% schoolboy while teaming with Makoto against Ayaka (Ayako Sato & Hanako Nakamori). The Kobayashis (Kaho Kobayashi & Hanako Nakamori) then got through a match against Diana’s Miran and Rydeen Hagane in the dojo main event on 14th June, with Hanako closing it out with a shining wizard, though Miran deserved credit for holding her face for the rest of the show and her promo afterwards, which was one hell of a sell for a 16-year-old. That was as good as it got for the champions, though, as Kaori Yoneyama and KAZUKI dethroned The Kobayashis at “Vol. 7” on 21st June to capture the tag titles.

On the rookie front, Mia continued to look extremely impressive in her outings. Her second match with Leon back on 24th May showed real intensity, with her laying in strikes and moving around the ring with purpose, and by the time she faced Crea in the dojo opener on 14th June, in what was actually their third singles match against each other, the improvement from her previous outings was obvious. PURE-J has also announced the addition of a new trainee. Following the 6th June Itabashi show, Meguri Fujisaku introduced herself as the promotion’s newest trainee, going by the nickname Megu. She admitted to being nervous and surprised to find herself addressing the crowd so soon, but asked for everyone’s support going forward. Between Mia’s continued growth and Megu’s arrival, PURE-J’s younger talent pool is looking healthier. But can we get the title on Crea, please?

Recommended Matches:

• Chihiro Hashimoto & MIRAI vs. Miku Kanae & Rina – 5th June at Shinjuku FACE
• Cohaku & Mika Iwata vs. Misa Kagura & VENY – 5th June at Shinjuku FACE

T-HEARTS held a show at Shinjuku FACE on 5th June celebrating Yumiko Hotta’s 41st anniversary. The show was available for purchase at Hotta’s store page. The international link is a new thing, so naturally it wasn’t working when I tried it (not sure if it was an issue on my end or what). But, you can still purchase it through the Japanese link if you create a Japanese Amazon account and pay through that. Then, they send you a password-protected Vimeo link for the live show. However, I couldn’t watch live and they didn’t provide me with an archive until much later, so beware! The main event was Chihiro Hashimoto & MIRAI vs. Miku Kanae & Rina, which had around a 100% chance of being excellent, and it was. It was a masterclass by Miku Kanae, who had one of her best performances in quite a while, which was already a high bar to meet. This is absolutely worth watching. After the show, it was announced that Miku would have a 10-match series beginning with Saori Anou on 10th July in Yamaguchi. Ranna Yagami also came out to challenge Miku for STARDOM’s Korakuen Hall show on 14th June.

Elsewhere, in the second match on the card, Cohaku & Mika Iwata took on my two favourite wrestlers, Misa Kagura & VENY, and it was pretty awesome. Every wrestler was on their A-game and Misa showed why she’s one of the best freelancers on the scene. Aya Sakura was pinned by Yumiko Hotta in a special tag, as Hotta teamed with Saori and Sakura paired up with LLPW-X’s Takako Inoue. Syuri defeated Sayaka Toyota.

Recommended Matches:

• Ayame Sasamura & MIRAI vs. Miku & Kanae & Rina – LLPW-X x T-HEARTS, 30th May at Tokyo Tower Media Center 5th Floor Studio Jupiter

While LLPW-X’s monthly residence at Kanda Myojin Hall ended on 7th January, they have been in the indie wilderness and not run any shows since, until 17th May, where they held an outdoor show in Shizuoka. Two matches out of the three on the show were uploaded to Shinobu Kandori’s and Takako Inoue’s YouTube channels. LLPW-X then held a joint show with T-HEARTS on 30th May, a show which partially made tape over a month later in July. Rina & Amu Fujiwara is currently held hostage by a promotion that cannot regularly run taped shows. Someone save them! The main event of the 30th May show was Ayame Sasamura & MIRAI vs. Miku Kanae & Rina. A banger on paper, and a banger in practice. This was the outsiders (Ayame & MIRAI) coming in to put on a beating on the home promotion duo, with Miku and Rina executing some amazing, fiery comebacks.

Recommended Matches:

• Azusa Inaba vs. Saya Kamitani – 10th July at Korakuen Hall
• MIRAI vs. Tomoka Inaba – 10th July at Korakuen Hall

On 10th July, JTO held a show at Korakuen Hall. Heading into the show, TAKA Michinoku had said that if they did not hit their goal of attracting 1,000 fans on this show, then they would stop booking it, as JTO had run the venue for seven years and had not reached that target, only attracting 391 fans on the previous show on 3rd June. JTO announced that they had managed to draw 1,192 fans, succeeding their goal. Considering that the only new addition on the card compared to usual JTO cards was Saya Kamitani, it’s not unreasonable to give her some credit for the number, but I imagine TAKA’s marketing stunt helped.

The show was streamed live on YouTube, with two key matches in the women’s division as MIRAI took on Tomoka Inaba in the main event for the JTO Girls Title and Azusa Inaba had a great special singles match against STARDOM stablemate Saya Kamitani. Every time I see Red Azusa (different from her STARDOM character), I am convinced she is one of the best wrestlers on the scene. It was no different here. It is impossible to see a future where she is not one of the best wrestlers in the world and she showcased that in her match with Saya. In the main event, Tomoka won the JTO Girls Title from MIRAI in another excellent match.

Recommended Matches:

• MUSASHI vs. Sangre Azteca Jr. – 12th June at Korakuen Hall

Michinoku Pro held their annual Lucha inspired Korakuen Hall show on 12th June titled “~VIVA! MEXICO!~”. In the main event, MUSASHI lost his Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Title to Sangre Azteca Jr, a young luchador from the Mexican independents who has been touring with MichiPro for over a year. Azteca won with the spinning musclebuster. The match was heated and had a lot of big spots off the turnbuckle and nearfalls. If this match was anything to go by, then Azteca is extremely popular among the MichiPro faithful. After he won, you could hear him crying under his mask. This meant a lot to him and those in the building. In the semi-main event ARASHI, Dick Togo & Van Vert Negro took on El Desperado, KUUKAI & Van Vert Jack. The Van Verts are from the Fukuoka-based promotion My Way. This match was great, as you’d expect from everyone involved. On the undercard, Mei Suruga teamed up with MichiPro’s MIRAI to face lucha-inspired duo CoCo & Kaho Kobayashi. There is some history here as Mei and CoCo have faced off on Rose’s shows, and Mei Suruga is known to be fond of CoCo, with one of her dream matches being CoCo against her own ChocoPro protege Kaho Hiromi (she mentioned this to me at a meet & greet). CoCo is a 15-year-old and Van Vert Jack’s little sister, and she is phenomenally athletic. Naturally, Mei threw MIRAI out of the ring so that she could start against CoCo, so Mei was in full goblin mode here. This was a super fun third match on the card. MIRAI won with her new lucha-style seatbelt cradle that she’s been showing off to win some WAVE matches.

2AW celebrated their 7th anniversary on 21st June at TKP Chiba, with Taishi Takizawa capturing the 2AW Openweight Title from Ayato Yoshida. Takizawa, also known as “Mr. 2AW”, has competed in the main event of the anniversary show four times, with two wins and two losses. It was a clash of generations, and styles. Takizawa said that he was fighting for what he considers is the fading “Chiba style” of wrestling, with champion Yoshida firmly pushing ahead, leaving the past in the behind. For now, Takizawa proved that his style was not lost.

At their first ever produce show, THE RED LINE unit in 2AW faced off against each other for the 2AW Trio Championship on 5th July at 2AW Square in Chiba. The titles were revamped after they had been dormant since 2020. Team Hanami (Ayame Sasamura, Tatsuya Hanami & Yuya Aoki) defeated their unit leader Takuro Niki and unit mates Makoto Oishi & Shiori Asahi to become the first champions of the re-established division.

Recommended Matches:

• Genkai vs. Kodai Nozaki – 27th June at Fukuoka Convention Centre

Kyushu Pro celebrated their 18th anniversary in front of over 2,644 fans at Fukuoka Convention Centre. It’s the same building Dragongate ran in February for one of their biggest shows of the year, drawing 2,222, although Kyushu Pro does have a policy of allowing kids in for free, so there are likely a lot of comps. In the main event, the ace Kodai Nozaki became the four-time Kyushu Pro Champion, defeating 49-year-old five-time champion Genkai. This was a clash of the promotion’s most popular stars, although Genkai’s title run marked a more recent resurgence. The notoriously hot Kyushu Pro crowd really made it easy to immerse in the match and lose yourself. The final stretch of the match was molten hot. Nozaki destroyed Genkai with a beautiful spear for the win. There was also an excellent rookie match on the undercard with Kyushu Pro rookie Koyo Ume facing Hyo Ogawa with the hot crowd taking it to another level. It was his first singles win.

Kyushu Pro’s women’s dojo, Kyujo, headed up by Meiko Satomura with on-site training from Kyushu Pro’s TAJIRI, is recruiting fast, as several trainees were on show at the anniversary show. As the only women’s dojo in the region of Kyushu, it sets them up with a healthy advantage, not requiring people to travel to Tokyo to begin their career and uproot their lives. It’s worth remembering many in Japan get into wrestling, especially joshi, at a very young age when they are still attending school, so having a local promotion is enticing.

Munetatsu Nakamura sustained an ACL injury on the 4th July Shin-Kiba show in a match against Baliyan Akki. Nakamura had recently returned from an injury in April 2026 which left him out of action for three months. This is a blow for one of the scene’s brightest young wrestlers.

On 9th June at Shin-Kiba 1st RING, BASARA hosted the first round of the Union MAX Title #1 Contender Tournament. The title is held by Shuji Ishikawa. On one side of the bracket was Isami Kodaka, Takumi Tsukamoto, Dakii Shimomura and SAGAT. The other side of the bracket held Daichi Kazato, FUMA, Lil Kraken and BASARA owner Ryota Nakatsu himself. The show also saw Ayumu Honda and Trans-Am Hiroshi fail to defeat Masato Kamino & Takato Nakano for the Iron Fist Tag Team Title. The #1 Contenders tournament ended on 23rd June, with Takumi Tsukamoto being selected as the next challenger.

On 2nd August BASARA will be hosting a show at Korakuen Hall with Shuji Ishikawa defending the Union MAX Title against Takumi Tsukamoto and Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto challenging Masato Kamino & Takato Nakano for their Iron Fist Tag Title. There will also be a special singles match between BASARA owner Ryota Nakatsu and DDT’s Shunma Katsumata.

Recommended Matches:

• Jun Kasai vs. Violento Jack – 9th July at Korakuen Hall

FREEDOMS held the “Deathmatch Festival” on 31st May in Kumamoto. Gaia Hox defended his King of FREEDOM World Junior Heavyweight Title against Van Vert Jack in the semi-main event. Van Vert Jack is part of the My Way promotion based in the nearby Fukuoka prefecture. The main event had a FREEDOMS all-star deathmatch light tubes match with Masashi Takeda, Tomoya Hirata & Violento Jack beating Jun Kasai, Takashi Sasaki & Toru Sugiura. The only reason I have written about this event is because F4W’s SEO sloptimiser included the results of this event in their news feed, but not STARDOM’s biggest show of the year, so I figured they might know something about this show that I don’t. Is this finally my big payday?

On a more serious note, I watched Jun Kasai challenge Violento Jack for the King of FREEDOM World Title in the main event of “Tokyo Death Match Carnival 2026” at Korakuen Hall on 9th July. It was an awesome match. Not anything revolutionary if you’ve seen Kasai matches before, mostly more of the same, but that is awesome deathmatches (to me at least). There were some gruesome avalanche spots, one kick-outs, clonking headbutts and nasty lighttube cracks to the roar of a passionate Korakuen Hall crowd. It will never get old for me. If you’re a deathmatch aficionado I can see you not being moved by it though.

Gokigen Pro held their second show of 2026 to take place in Culttz Kawasaki. Gokigen runs the venue in the evening after Diana’s morning show at the venue. I did fork over the mandatory ¥5,500 for this for one reason and one reason only: Kaori Yoneyama booked another chapter of Honori Hana and Selene Misora, the Feud of the Year that has taken place mostly in SEAdLINNNG. While this didn’t have the violence and blood of the other matches, it was still a great match, with the two ignoring the light-hearted Gokigen vibes and choosing to slap each other several times throughout the match. Also on the show was an excellent grappling match between Fuminori Abe and MMA fighter Kiyotaka Shimizu.

31st May 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

© Marvelous

Jessy Jackson unsuccessfully challenged Mio Momono for the West Coast Pro Women’s Title Title in the main event. To put it plainly: Jessy Jackson is not someone I enjoy watching. The unearned swagger gets to me. Maybe that makes her one of the best heels in wrestling but no one else gets to me like her. I did get some validation in the post-match promo, where Mio said that Jessy is the kind of person she finds difficult, and that she does not like her as a person. Obviously it was kayfabe, and there were compliments in there, too, but let me live in my fantasy land. Mio, on the other hand, is just incredible. Only she could get me fully invested in a match where I cannot stand one of the participants, and the crowd was right there with her, screaming for her to put Jessy away. The match went very long for having only one great wrestler in it, and by the end I was feeling nearfall-fatigue. The German suplexes near the finish were great, though the kick-out was infuriating. Get Mio back in there with Johnnie Robbie.

Sure enough, in the post-match, Johnnie challenged for the title next, which is a 50/50 toss up on who wins. Mio can always travel for big West Coast shows if she wants to, but Johnnie winning wouldn’t be a surprise at all. Mio also revealed that this was the first time she had ever defended a singles title, a stat that checks out given that the AAAW Title she previously held was lost to Mayumi Ozaki on the first defence after 96 days. One of the best wrestlers on the planet, and she cannot hold a singles title for long. Mio is too loyal to Chigusa for her own good. Her backstage comments were also worth noting:

“When I went to West Coast, I wrestled the title match in the main event, but the match before mine, with Senka and that big gaijin opponent, completely stole the show and I was honestly a bit gutted about that. Senka keeps growing and growing, but that’s all the more reason I want to keep fighting so I don’t fall behind.“

The six-woman semi-main event tag saw Johnnie Robbie, Riko and Sweet Caroline face Miko Alana, Senka Akatsuki and Sora Ayame. Senka and Johnnie started things off, having had a great match back in June 2025, and Senka broke out a headstand flip to show off. It was a decent enough match overall. Miko Alana is impressive for someone only two years into the business, and Johnnie is an obvious standout among the overseas talent. The saddest observation is that Sora Ayame’s little package cradle no longer gets the reaction it once did. There was a time when that move would pop the roof off. Somehow they could not keep it over.

In the tag match, Ai Houzan and Takumi Iroha faced Nightshade and Nyla Rose. Seeing Houzan lose is deflating. Her booking was mishandled after the Mio Momono match, when she should have been given a proper storyline to follow on from it but was not. Such is life on the independents. Nightshade and Nyla Rose are among the better big women workers on the scene, which has made their appearances fun to watch.

PPP Tokyo’s president was featured in the next match, as Kabuto Mitomi faced Titus Alexander. Mitomi decapitated him at one point but Titus came back and won with a running knee, without even needing to go to a bigger finish, the Big Ugly. Truth be told, the match did not generate much interest for me going in, but Titus is just too good. He dragged me in regardless.

Chikayo Nagashima opened against rookie Ruka Amahane. The crowd popped big for the handshake, given that Chikayo has been in a sour mood ever since Takumi Iroha left her out to dry to team with Sareee, and her alignment with the heel faction Magenta has made even a gesture of sportsmanship feel loaded. Ruka got quite a lot here, which was a pleasant surprise given that Marvelous are not exactly known for giving their rookies much early on in their careers. The other BUNTAI debutant, Hijiri Saotome, has not appeared on the last two shows, while Ruka has opened both, suggesting the promotion is very much behind her. She was pretty great, and you can tell she is a wrestling fan, because she does things instinctively that you only pick up from watching a lot of wrestling, like milking the last-second kick-out for everything it is worth. She is an exciting prospect.

The Open The Owarai Gate Title was on the line in the three-way between Maria, Shin Sakura Hirota and Yosuke Santa Maria, the reigning champion who won the title from Jiro Shinbashi a few months ago. The match was essentially a contest of who could entertain the crowd the most, which led to Santa Maria sprinting headfirst through the bottom and middle rope. An impressionist segment followed: Hirota played a high school baseball tournament siren, Yosuke portrayed baseball legend Hideki Matsui to a big pop, and Maria did Chigusa Nagayo, which proved the most popular of the three. Maria won the vote, relinquished the title, and a second vote was held, with Hirota taking it.

Takumi Iroha defeats Ruka Amahane (7:40)

Sora Ayame defeats Chikayo Nagashima and Senka Akatsuki (2:17)

Jessy Jackson defeats Ai Houzan and Echika Miyabi (4:04)

Titus Alexander defeats Violento Jack and Yosuke Santa Maria (9:50)

Miko Alana defeats Maria and Sweet Caroline (7:54)

Nightshade vs. Nyla Rose vs. RIKO – Time Limit Draw (15:00)

West Coast Pro Women’s Title:
Mio Momono (c) defeats Johnnie Robbie (20:48)

RIKO defeats Ruka Amahane (9:31)

Echika Miyabi vs. Senka Akatsuki – Time Limit Draw (15:00)

Chikayo Nagashima defeats Maria and Sweet Caroline (8:56)

Itsuki Aoki defeats Sora Ayame (11:32)

Sareee & Takumi Iroha defeat Ai Houzan & Mio Momono (15:50)

5th June 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

Chigusa Nagayo’s mystery vortex show Friday Night Gacha launched its second season, framed as a joshi-focused counterpart to NOAH’s Monday Magic. If this premiere is anything to go by, though, the show has drifted from what made the first season’s opening episode work. That episode delivered Actwres girl’Z lore, the sort of thing that gives the format a purpose as it was truly unexpected, out-of-left-field and something you don’t see regularly. Here, Monday Magic regulars featured regularly enough that I wasn’t sure what it was offering.

Nightshade and Nyla Rose faced Senka Akatsuki and Takumi Iroha in a fun match. The Marvelous superfans were audibly present, with loud calls for Takumi from women reminding me more of something closer to a DDT show than a typical joshi indie. It speaks to the distinct Marvelous fanbase that comes with Chigusa.

Ai Houzan and Chanyota took on Echika Miyavi and Jessy Jackson. Jessy Jackson’s extensions came off mid-match, and the finish was predictable enough that you could have called it from the team announcement alone, with Ai-chan taking the loss to Jessy. Efforts were made to make Ai look good, but it was wholly transparent and unengaging. Echika was largely in the match to chop, and she did so, and it was great.

My eyes rolled out of my sockets when I saw Reece Alexios, then Archie Cole, then Iker Navarro come out. The “Monday Magic” trio. The final member of the match was Titus Alexander, who I like a lot. Putting “Monday Magic” regulars on the “Friday Night Gacha” card feels like a decision that benefits nobody, and anyone already sitting through them on Mondays will understand the fatigue. Cole has put on some size since his first “Monday Magic” appearance. That’s a lot of chicken and broccoli. The match was well-worked in terms of execution, with no flubbed spots and some athletic moments, but it never became engaging beyond that.

Elsewhere, the PrideStyle Title was defended by Johnnie Robbie against Miko Alana. It was a good match. Megaton versus Shin Megaton (Sakura Hirota) was short enough that I could deal with it. But it wasn’t looking great for the first episode of Friday Night Gacha.

The show finally found its footing in the main event with the Captain’s Fall eight-woman tag, pairing Chikayo Nagashima, Maria, Rea Seto and RIKO against Mio Momono, Miyuki Takase, Sora Ayame and Yurika Oka. Rea Seto teaming with Magenta was a lovely surprise, and this is the kind of match “Friday Night Gacha” should deliver. The rules were modified from standard captain’s fall, operating on a points system where pinning a non-captain scored one point, with five points winning the match as an alternative to pinning the captain outright. RIKO fell first to make it 1-0, then Rea followed for 2-0, with Sora getting the pin via a small package cradle, a move that I have been waiting to see her pin someone with for ages. Chikayo pulled one back, rolling up Mio to make it 2-1, before a double pinfall on Magenta brought Mio’s team to 4-1 and triggered a frantic scramble for the one final point needed. What followed was a hilarious mess of attempted roll-ups from everyone, complete with crowd chants for referee Tommy who was just slamming the mat repeatedly to try and catch all the pinfalls. There was an incredibly funny spot where the heels tried to coordinate four simultaneous splashes, but Mio was out of place, so RIKO sprinted across the ring to reposition Mio, only for the babyfaces to simply spring up and knock everyone off the turnbuckles anyway, meaning RIKO wasted her time running across the ring to move Mio if they weren’t going to do the splashes anyway. Immersion, I guess. Chikayo won the match by pinning the opposing captain Takase directly, bypassing the points race. It was probably the most fun Rea Seto has had in a long time, and the fact that she still delivered her emotional promo gimmick in the aftermath of a “Friday Night Gacha” tag match rather than an emotional title bout was a good way to cap off the night.

19th June 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Aja Kong vs. Senka Akatsuki, Chikayo Nagashima vs. Mio Momono vs. Momoka Hanazono vs. VENY vs. ZONES

© Marvelous

Well, Chigusa may have wanted to prove a point to me after I sort of buried the first episode. This episode is what “Friday Night Gacha” should all be about. It was excellent and the best episode of the format since its inception. First off, we began with none other than the third singles match between the legendary Aja Kong and Senka Akatsuki. The first match between the two in Las Vegas in 2025 launched Senka’s popularity among international fans through the roof, with her second match in Las Vegas in 2026 not yet making tape as at the time of writing. This was the first time they met in singles action in Japan. Aja took Senka for some chair bowling, knocking over the chair belonging to a friend of mine, Wrestling Omakase’s host, John Carroll. Aja dropped Senka with a lethal backdrop suplex, which looked horrific (in a good way). Senka tried a flash pin to no avail. The best thing about Senka is her realistic selling. Despite trying a flash pin, she still looked like she was absolutely dead off of the backdrop suplex, rather than immediately shaking it off. Aja returned fire with a lariat and smothered her for the pin. This was straight to the point and effective. Really good stuff.

This episode really started to figure out what these mystery vortex shows are all about. The next match was CHIAKI, Riko Kawahata and SAKI against Misa Matsui, Kakeru Sekiguchi and Yuko Sakurai. That is a true mystery vortex match. It was an AWG reunion. CHIAKI and Misa Matsui are heel partners in Marigold, but both Riko and Misa were in their babyface gimmicks here. When all six did “Love Riddle”, I was in heaven. This was a beautiful throwback to their AWG days. Just like the gimmick in the previous season, “Love Riddle” would play at random intervals and they would have to stop wrestling and do the dance, looking more exhausted each time it played. This match was for the few joshi hardcore nerds – me, that’s me. Ten billion stars. This is one I know I can’t in good faith put as a recommended match because people won’t know what on Earth is going on. But I loved it. You know what made it even better? These guys had to do a 20-minute time-limit draw because no one wanted to take the pin, and that is so AWG. Actresses and idols absolutely hate losing. AWG wrestlers notoriously love kicking out at 3.1. You can’t make this shit up. Incredible.

Then, the good times didn’t stop there. The main event was a five-woman hardcore match where each person brought their own weapon, involving Chikayo Nagashima, Mio Momono, Momoka Hanazono, VENY and ZONES. I cannot believe the difference between the first episode and the second episode. This was only the second time ever that VENY and Momoka had been in a match together, the previous time was a match that didn’t make tape in ZERO1 in a random battle royale, so really, this was the first ever time. That also meant it was the first ever time we got to see VENY do the Momoka crying spot, but it wasn’t what you would think. It was Chikayo who was the mean bully and made VENY, and everyone else, cry. We also saw VENY ride a bouncy horse as if she was a kid. VENY then wrapped Chikayo, Momoka and ZONES in a huge yellow net and threw them out of the ring. For some reason, Mio Momono brought a dummy out to the ring. That backfired as VENY made the dummy body press Mio and pin her down, before VENY landed the moonsault for the win. You know VENY isn’t taking this booking without taking the W. This was an amazingly creative hardcore match that no review could do justice. I loved it.

Also on the show was West Coast Pro rookie Sweet Caroline against one half of the AAAW Tag Team Champions, Nightshade. It’s so awesome when the Japanese audience scream when Nightshade is doing her running senton. They felt so bad for Caroline. And then later in the show there was Nyla Rose beating Jessy Jackson. Two Marvelous undercard matches. Hey, you can’t have it all.

26th June 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

© ikeojimu

In the opener of the third and final episode of the season, Spark Rush (Sareee & Takumi Iroha) faced comedy duo Hibiscus Mii & Shin Sakura Hirota. Hibiscus looked like she did not want to be facing Spark Rush.

Then we had the Sendai Girls Gaijins (Anita Vaughan, Safire Reed & Spike Nishimura) against the Marvelous Gaijins (Jessy Jackson, Nightshade & Nyla Rose).

There was some Ganbare Pro representation on the card as first, Spirit of Ganbare Openweight Champion Mizuki Watase took on Titus Alexander, and then YuuRI faced Hiragi Kurumi and Echika Miyavi in a three-way.

In the main event, they repeated the AWG dancing gimmick but without CHIAKI and Misa Matsui and adding Maika Ozaki, Miyuki Takase, Rina Amikura and Hikari Shimizu, who is retired but sells shaved ice and sweet potatoes outside the venue of wrestling shows. Chigusa Nagayo did the “Love Riddle” dance at one point. This was another 20-minute time-limit draw. While I love the AWG lore, as stated in my previous review, I had seen all of this before so it was a bit less effective the second time around.

Cohaku defeats Miku Kanae (9:54)

Kakeru defeats ZONES (9:53)

Itsuki Aoki & Ryo Mizunami defeat Misa Kagura & Unagi Sayaka (16:12)

AKINO and Hiroyo Matsumoto defeat Rina Yamashita (13:41)

Kaori Yoneyama, Momoka Hanazono & Ram Kaicho defeat Jaguar Yokota, Mayumi Ozaki & ZAP (16:56)

12th July 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

© OZ Academy

The main event saw Power Gojizones Alliance, represented here by Hiroyo Matsumoto, Rina Yamashita & Ryo Mizunami, take on Seiki-gun’s Kakeru, Mayumi Ozaki and Saori Anou. Mizunami’s involvement was a bit funny to watch live, she’d wrestled earlier that day on Sendai Girls’ Senjo the Biggest show up in Sendai, then got straight on a bullet train to Tokyo to appear at Shinjuku FACE. It was a solid main event, if a familiar one, you’ve more or less seen this matchup before. Matsumoto pinned Ozaki with a backdrop suplex, which surprised me a bit. I’d expected Matsumoto to take the fall in a way that set up a singles match at Korakuen Hall. Instead it built towards Saori Anou & Unagi Sayaka getting a shot at the tag titles there, with the ongoing stipulation that if Saori & Unagi lose, they will stop teaming together. Either way, the match reinforced much of the story of 2026, that Gojizones are the top dogs in OZ Academy now, and Seiki-gun will have to figure out a way to topple them.

Phantom Limit (AKINO & Cohaku) took on two out of three of the Little Goblins (Momoka Hanazono & Ram Kaicho). This match carried on the storyline from the 24th May Osaka show, where AKINO became attached to Momoka’s toy cat. Cohaku, who knows Momoka all too well as tag partners in WAVE, wanted to kick the cat away, but AKINO stepped in to protect it, so clearly hadn’t detached from the cat yet, which is exactly why Momoka introduced the cat before the bell had even rung. AKINO picked it up and walked off, leaving Cohaku alone to deal with Momoka and Ram. She came back later with a backpack to keep the cat safe, but things escalated when the cat wandered into the ring while AKINO had Momoka locked in a Boston crab. AKINO blamed Ram for stealing it out of her bag and went to collect it, only for Momoka to snatch it away and toss it away, sending AKINO chasing after it while tagging in Cohaku urgently. Finally, Momoka stepped on the cat, which was the last straw and AKINO destroyed both of them and submitted Ram. Since this was a tag match rather than a trios match, it doesn’t tarnish the unbeaten run the Little Goblins (Kaori Yoneyama, Momoka Hanazono & Ram Kaicho) have been building, requiring ten wins in a row before they can be crowned the inaugural OZ Academy Trios Titles. They haven’t wrestled as a trio since beating Mayumi Ozaki’s team back in June. Ram Kaicho asked for a shot at the trios belts afterwards, but instead, their next assignment was confirmed for Korakuen Hall in August against Jaguar Yokota, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan & Yuko Miyamoto, a win there would make it seven straight for them. Momoka played dead on the mat the moment Jaguar’s name was announced.

The semi main event doubled up as one of my personal highlights of the show, Misa Kagura is one of my favourite wrestlers, and it was great to see her get this slot against Tomoka Inaba in a good match. There were big forearms early on, and Misa’s running lariats looked incredible. Tomoka’s fighting spirit allowed her to answer back with a nasty spin kick, then got a near fall off a running knee strike, before closing it out with a Michinoku Driver.

In a running theme of Mayumi Ozaki booking this show just for me, the first two matches were notable for SEAdLINNNG’s presence on the card, with Honori Hana and Selene Misora both appearing. Selene opened the show against Itsuki Aoki, and again it felt like a match specifically for me as Itsuki and Selene are two of my favourite wrestlers right now. Itsuki no sold Selene’s early dropkicks, then produced an insane single leg Boston crab, hoisting both of Selene’s legs clean off the mat with a single leg. Selene got her own moment with a nice judo throw into a crucifix pin for a near fall. Honori, meanwhile, made her OZ Academy debut in the match that followed, a three way with Kaori Yoneyama and ZONES.

Hiroyo Matsumoto & Miria Koga defeat Lana Hisaki & Mio Shirai (13:31)

High Speed Tag Team:
Ka Kedita & La Pidita defeat Debbie Keitel & Madison Marley (7:16)

Mima Shimoda & Nagisa Nozaki defeat Chanyota & MIRAI (12:48)

VENY defeats Unagi Sayaka (12:04)

Makoto defeats Selene Misora (12:49)

SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Title:
Ayame Sasamura (c) defeats Honori Hana (18:13)

28th June 2026
Post di Amistad, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Leon vs. Selene Misora, Big Haruka & Miria Koga vs. Honori Hana & Miku Kanae

© ikeojimo

SEAdLINNNG’s “SEED STAGE” series returned for a fourth installment, held once again at Diana’s dojo in Post di Amistad. The semi-regular show, produced by Arisa Nakajima and booked just for me, continues to focus on the promotion’s young talent, and remains one of the best things going in the joshi indies. This installment also underlined the once-again-growing relationship between Diana and SEAdLINNNG, with Haruka Umesaki and Debbie Keitel both on the card.

The main event paired JTO’s Big Haruka and Miria Koga against Honori Hana and Miku Kanae, and it was awesome. The match continued the WAVE rivalry between Miku and Miria, and it also saw Honori Hana and Miria reignite a feud that had been on the backburner while Honori vs. Selene took priority. The match was about Miria, who was on the best version of herself here, the same version we’ve seen come out during her WAVE tournament run. It says a lot about how SEAd has developed over the past year, pivoting hard into its rookies, that this show was main evented not by the Honori and Selene feud but by Miria and Miku instead, and it was excellent. With Yuki Funa still out injured and awaiting a return, things are looking good for SEAd. The aggression between Miku and Miria was incredible to see. Early on they brawled into the chairs, and Miria ended up booting Miku right in the face after getting fired up from a forearm. The nearfalls down the stretch were great, with the two trading two crazy German suplexes before the time-limit draw happened.

Leon against Selene was another recommended match. I went in with no real idea what to expect from this one beyond a guess that Selene wanted to test out something a bit more lucha influenced. Instead Selene suckered Leon in with a handshake before throwing her into the corner and laying in forearms. One of the things I love about Selene, alongside those forearms, is how she screams through all her offence, it always looks like she wants to win as quickly as possible and is putting everything into doing so. She reversed a Boston Crab into an armbar at one point, which isn’t something you’d expect a rookie to try against a veteran. There was nothing crazy in this match, but it was simply a well worked outing from start to finish, no hiccups or awkward spots, a match that made complete sense and told a clear story over its duration. That’s exactly what these shows are for, giving rookies like Selene that experience, and it’s part of why Leon is so valued, she’s one of the veterans willing to give a lot back in matches like this.

Diana’s Debbie Keitel was on the undercard against Madison Marley, who cheap shotted Debbie at the bell, evidently forgetting there’s only room for one sneaky gaijin in Post di Amistad. It didn’t work out well for her. Haruka Umesaki opened the show against Lana Hisaki, who looked noticeably less nervous than usual, perhaps someone told her to dial back the dramatic breathing during her entrance. I still haven’t quite figured Lana out and need to see more from her, she’s interesting without me being able to pin down exactly why, and while I’m not sold on her look, she’s a fresh rookie who needs time to find herself.

Natsu Sumire & Soy defeat Chika & Sumika Yanagawa (13:50)

Momoka Hanazono defeats Yuka Satsuki and ZONES (12:44)

Ryunosuke Nagai & Shuji Ishikawa vs. Hyo Ogawa & Suwama – Time Limit Draw (15:00)

Kengo Mashimo defeats Towa Iwasaki (13:39)

Evolution Strong Women’s Title:
Ayame Sasamura defeats Chi Chi (c) (18:19)

3rd July 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

The main event was a No. 1 Contender six-way match between EVO’s Chika & Soy, as well as Echika Miyavi (PPP Tokyo), Mizuki Kato (Diana), Yuka Satsuki (2AW) and Momoka Hanazono (Uptown). Given Chika and Soy had both recently challenged for the title, I was expecting either a strong freelancer like Echika or Momoka, or 2AW rookie Satsuki to get the shot, given she is part of the same promotion as Sasamura and it would be an easy defence. That is exactly what happened, as Satsuki eliminated Soy in the final two to become the No. 1 Contender. I had seen a match between her and Ayame in 2AW not long ago, so I was excited by this outcome.

Suwama faced Yuko Miyamoto. Suwama attacked Miyamoto’s groin, pulling him violently with Miyamoto’s legs stuck either side of the rope. The crowd loved that spot. Suwama choked out Miyamoto for the win.

Taishi Takazawa, fresh off of winning the 2AW Openweight Title on 21st June from Ayato Yoshhida, teamed with Hayato Tamura against Shuji Ishikawa and BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion So Daimonji. This was your classic puro 20-minute time-limit draw undercard match on an EVO show that you should be used to if you watch EVO regularly. They’re always well worked, chaotic and rarely miss. This was no different. Tamura and Daimonji were standouts. Tamura has been on a great run since his return from injury in November 2025.

Former EVO Strong Women’s Champion MICHIKO faced Sumika Yanagawa.

Natsu Sumire defeated Saito in the opener. Saito is very over on the independent scene, and despite it being a sparsely populated crowd, they rooted strongly for her.

23rd May 2026

For Totoro Satsuki’s birthday, she put on the show she wanted. In the first match, she had Arisa Shinose, Misa Kagura and Sumika Yanagawa dress up as her while she teamed with Arisa in a tag match. This was a rare win for Misa Kagura who landed a diving lariat on Totoro!

Up next, Yuuka and Up Town rookie Saito faced off in a points match, where a point would be deducted for each rope break, and every single time a wrestler spoke in anything that wasn’t Osaka dialect, as Totoro is from Osaka. Losing all points meant the wrestler would lose. Tsukina Umino was the referee and would smack people with a towel when they failed to speak in Osaka dialect. Obviously, the joke flew over my head because I cannot tell the difference between Japanese dialects, but the crowd enjoyed it. It did reinforce how impulsive Yuuka is in that she cannot help herself as she almost lost the match by forgetting to speak in Osaka dialect when screaming during her deadly forearms. When she was down to one point, she won with her Angel’s Trumpet finisher.

In the third match, Riko, Mase Hiiro and Tsukina Umino took part in a three-way which would have intervals for quiz questions, a recurring format in some dojo shows. A correct answer was 1 point, and the first to three points would win, but they needed to secure a two-count before they could answer a question. Of course, 12 year old Riko won.

In the main event, Kirari Wakana & Moe Hiiro faced Kaho Matsushita & Yappy. The gimmick here was that Totoro was in the corner like a sleeping agent, and she could be activated by yelling “Satsuki-chan” after which she would attack the other team for some time. Totoro looked absolutely exhausted by the end of the match with how much each team called on her. Kirari got the pin on Kaho with Totoro’s help. To close the show, Totoro said that she never imagined she’d be wrestling for this long, and that it was a testament to how much fun she had had doing wrestling. She asked Kaho to wait for her as she still had ambitions to hold the ICExFinity Title one more time. Okay Totoro, relax.

30th May 2026

There are some weekends where something happens on the dojo show the day before a Ribbon show, and because the dojo shows are released on VOD days later, you get spoiled on the Ribbon show by seeing someone with a new title. Well, that happened here. Thankfully it’s one of the lower card titles which has essentially been a comedy division recently and used in Gokigen Pro. I don’t mean comedy disparagingly, just that it changes hands quite regularly in weird ways. It’s funny that I feel I have to clarify that. Makoto lost the Triangle Ribbon Title to Akane Fujita in the main event of the dojo show. Fujita got the flash pin on Umino.

Sumika Yanagawa and Yuuka had a preview tag ahead of their #1 contendership match the day after, with Sumika picking up the win with her bridging chickenwing submission called glesin. This was an above average dojo match and showed hints of the great match they’d have in Yokohama.

Riko took her biggest steps towards the International Ribbon Tag Team Title alongside partner Hikari Minami as she got a big pinfall on Kirari Wakana in a tag match. Riko has won some pinfalls before but normally against her classmates like Mase Hiiro, but Kirari, her senior in both age and experience, is a big fish for Riko to catch.

31st May 2026
Yokohama Sanbo Hall, Kanagawa, Japan
Recommended Match: Sumika Yanagawa vs. Yuuka

© Kentaamu

Let’s be honest, this show was all about the main event. It was a highly anticipated bout between Sumika Yanagawa and Yuuka for the No. 1 contendership of the ICExFinity Title, with the resulting match to be held at Ice Ribbon’s 20th anniversary show at Kitazawa Town Hall on 20th June. I was excited for this for one reason, I desperately wanted to see Yuuka wrestle Kaho Matsushita in a singles match for the title. While they had wrestled in the impromptu three-way main event at “Ribbonmania” on 31st December, they had to put that together the morning of the show as Manami Katsu was unexpectedly ill. So with more time and planning, there’s no doubt that they have an excellent match within them. We will get to see that match as Yuuka beat Sumika here to become Kaho’s next challenger. It was a really great match. Typically, you’d expect Yuuka to be the bully and Sumika to be the underdog, but they flipped the script, and just as well Yuuka is a really underrated seller. I will never forget her sobbing her eyes out while shaking my hand after the failed tag title challenge in April, she sold that loss like nobody’s business. She is so great at selling the struggle of a match, and I thought Sumika’s aggression and intensity matched Yuuka’s selling performance here perfectly.

Chiapuri (Arisa Shinose & Misa Kagura) took on HikaRiko (Hikari Minami & Riko), who were attempting to take a big scalp to really stake their claim on an International Ribbon Tag Team Title shot, with the belts held by Mystic Eclipse (Makoto & Sumika Yanagawa). If they knocked off Chiapuri, I would think that would solidly put them in contention, especially as they’ve already been picking up wins in the recent month since the tag team tournament in April. This run feels like it has been for Minami to shake off some ring rust, as she has still been unsure in some moments since returning from a few years off. HikaRiko won with a dropkick and Cutie Special combination move on Arisa, which looked great. They later issued a challenge to Sumika, who accepted.

While she waited to see who would be her next challenge, ICExFinity Champion Kaho Matsushita and Kaori Yoneyama took on Kirari Wakana and GanPro’s YuuRI. There’s not much to say about this match except that it was a fun window into a possible Kaho & Kirari title match one day.

Lucy Couture debuted against Yappy on this show. She’s from Newcastle, England, and debuted on 26th January 2024. She wrestles mostly in the MEGASLAM promotion, where Maddy Morgan wrestled before doing her tour in Marigold. Given she only debuted in 2024, she is not as polished as Maddy Morgan, but learning and development is a constant process and Lucy has taken the step of learning in the Ice Ribbon dojo which is a commendable choice. You could tell that Lucy was extremely excited to be there given that she tried to drum up cheers from the crowd at moments you don’t expect, such as when you are on the ground getting beaten up by the heel!

In the opener, Akane Fujita and the Hiiro Sisters (Mase & Moe Hiiro) faced Up Town rookie Saito, Totoro Satsuki & Tsukina Umino. Saito is turning into quite the sicko, stomping on the young Mase and delivering the sickest forearms straight into Akane’s chest, which is always a dangerous thing to do.

6th June 2026
Recommended Match: Kaho Matsushita & Kirari Wakana vs. Nanami Hatano & Yuuka

© Tanh4L51287

In one of the strongest dojo main events on paper, ICExFinity Title Kaho Matsushita teamed up with Kirari Wakana against Diana’s “ace-in-waiting” Nanami Hatano & Kaho’s challenger on 20th June, Yuuka. Not only was it one of the strongest on paper, but it was generally one of the better dojo main events of 2026, and more. Only Ancham’s singles match with Kirari Wakana sticks in my mind as another match that’s similarly good. It actually played much more on Kirari and Yuuka’s feud prior to Ribbonmania in 2025 rather than Yuuka and Kaho’s upcoming match, and just as well because Kirari and Yuuka have excellent chemistry, and in a way, I’m okay not seeing Yuuka and Kaho wrestle that much. Surprise me on 20th June! They did plant the seeds here of Kaho working over Yuuka’s signature “forearming arm” with several armbars and targeted strikes.

Due to Akane Fujita pulling due to an injury suffered in training, Arisa Shinose had to face Hikari Minami and Riko in a three-way that was essentially a handicap match. But, there was some friction between MinaRiko which allowed Arisa to get the win.

Totoro Satsuki went to a time-limit draw with Yappy.

In the opener, Ancham tapped out Saito in a solid match which showcased Saito’s improvement since her debut nine months ago.

13th June 2026

Ancham made her long-awaited return to Ice Ribbon teaming with her Bad Butts teammate, Yappy, against Saito & Totoro Satsuki. Okay, it was only three months. To be honest, I hadn’t actually clocked that she wasn’t injured. When she stopped appearing I assumed she was taking a bit of a break but she was still wrestling in other indies during her Ice Ribbon hiatus, so I wonder what that was about. Either way, it’s good to have her back. I have noticed that the other Bad Butts member, Crea, has gone missing too, with her last appearance at Ribbonmania on 31st December. There was no storyline explanation for either hiatus.

Ahead of their ICExFinity match at the “20th Anniversary” show, Yuuka and Kaho Matushita clashed in a preview tag also including Arisa Shinose and Tsukina Umino respectively. As in the previous dojo show, they kept the interactions between Yuuka and Kaho limited, which is actually a bit unusual in the scene. I remind everyone that Manami Katsu and Misa Kagura had a 20-minute time-limit draw at a dojo show the day before their title match. I think it’s good to switch it up now and again and I’ve enjoyed them keeping things under wraps. But one of the stories coming out of the two bouts has been Yuuka’s deadly forearm being neutralised by working over Yuuka’s right arm.

Ahead of their International Ribbon Tag Team Title match against Mystic Eclipse (Makoto & Sumika Yanagawa), Hikariko (Hikari Minami & Riko) had a tune-up singles match.

In the opener, Mase Hiiro pinned her older sister, Moe, in a three-way also involving Kirari. Technically, Mase debuted before Moe, so Mase is Moe’s senior.

Kyuri, Mase Hiiro & Moe Hiiro defeat Banny Oikawa, Saito & Yappy (12:08)

Ayako Sato & Misa Kagura defeat Kirari Wakana & Miyako Matsumoto (10:10)

Manami Katsu & Mio Shirai defeat Totoro Satsuki & YuuRI (13:25)

FantastICE Title / Triangle Ribbon Title Three Way:
Akane Fujita (c) [Triangle] vs. Tsukina Umino (c) [FantastICE] vs. Arisa Shinose – Time Limit Draw (15:00)

International Ribbon Tag Team Title:
Makoto & Sumika Yanagawa (c) defeat Hikari Minami & Riko (19:36)

ICExInfinity Title:
Kaho Matsushita (c) defeats Yuuka (13:21)

27th June 2026

Kirari Wakana picked up a huge win over Yuuka on this show in a great tag team match also involving Arisa Shinose and Moe Hiiro. Kirari looked on fire in this match, showing off some new front flips during the initial chain wrestling. At one point she even did a forward headstand flip, the same one AZM, Mei Seira and Miran do when running the ropes. It was the last thing I was expecting from Kirari. She is improving at an alarming rate since one year ago. After picking up the win, Kirari said she wanted to face Yuuka at Yuuka’s birthday show the week after. Yuuka mulled it over, before accepting at the end of the show.

In the main event, Saito and Totoro Satsuki, who are the same age, faced off in a tag match where they paired with Ancham and ICExFinity Champion Kaho Matushita respectively.

Riko faced her teacher, Tsukina Umino in a singles match. Riko is a different wrestler from one year ago too. Afterall, she is only 12 and a rookie, so the leaps and bounds you see these kids go through is honestly insane and very captivating. She was laying in her strikes to Umino, but Umino ended up winning with Medusa (cross-legged Liontamer of sorts).

28th June 2026
Itabashi Green Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Matches: Hikari Minami & Sumika Yanagawa vs. Kaho Matsushita & Yuuka

© takedora11

In the main event, Hikari Minami & Sumika Yanagawa took on the new team of ICExFinity Champion Kaho Matsushita & Yuuka, who were coming off the back of their main event match at the 20th anniversary. The story here was that Hikari and Sumika, especially Sumika, are hot on the heels of Kaho for the next title challenge. Sumika lost the No. 1 Contendership match to Yuuka and has not given up her pursuit, while Hikari, entering her 21st year in the industry just like Ice Ribbon, wants to win a title having failed to capture the International Ribbon Tag Team Title with Riko. Here, in the same venue almost 16 years after she beat Emi Sakura for the ICExFinity Title, Minami picked up a crucial win against Yuuka to further establish herself in the singles division, her biggest win since returning from her break. The match was pretty great, in particular Hikari and Yuuka have excellent chemistry. Hikari has been extremely impressive in her last two outings.

Ryoko Sakimura made her Ice Ribbon debut, teaming with Makoto against Moe Hiiro & Tsukina Umino. Ryoko Sakimura continues to improve, and it’s quite admirable from the amount of criticism she received while in Marigold, a position she clearly wasn’t ready for. She started back up from the bottom, has been taking bookings in all sorts of promotions with the goal of improving. The psychotic Tsukina Umino was destroying Sakimura with her brutal chops. Sakimura doesn’t have to do this, but she is.

Manami Katsu and Saito faced off in a singles match. The two have a shared history that goes back further than it might appear at first glance. A Twitter post of the two spending time together and reminiscing prompted a bit of digging from me, and it turns out Saito, now 37, was a former JWP trainee from the period when Manami was coming up in that same promotion, the company that would eventually become PURE-J. Saito has a background in MMA, though it’s not clear whether she competed professionally or to what level. She decided to pursue wrestling in 2012 but never debuted with JWP, drifted away from the scene afterwards, and returned in 2025 with Uptown. That shared past came through early in the match, with the two sitting back to back before moving into shoot wrestling, evidently a callback to a drill they used to run together back in their JWP days, which was cute. From there, the match settled into Manami serving as the wall for Saito, and it was a lot of fun. The crowd got firmly behind Saito throughout, with Katsu answering back with some stiff strikes.

4th July 2026
Recommended Match: Haruka Umesaki & Yuuka vs. Kirari Wakana & Miku Kanae

© hiroyukikai1

Well, it wouldn’t be Yuuka if she didn’t book a wild show for her birthday, saying that she didn’t want any gimmicks like is usual for the dojo produce shows, she just wanted hard-hitting wrestling. First, she booked Tsukina Umino against the kids, as Umino & Mase Hiiro faced Moe Hiiro & Riko. Umino chopped the crap out of her student, Riko, who tried to fire back with stiff forearms. It was a good opener.

Then, Yuuka said she wanted Totoro Satsuki to go “all out” and so she booked freelancer Shigehiro Irie to team with Yappy against Totoro & Akane Fujita. This was as far away from a dojo show match that I can remember, with a ton of stiff, hard-hitting strikes. It was a match you’re more likely to see on the men’s independent scene in promotions like ZERO1. It was a very fun change up from the usual and I enjoyed it a lot.

Arisa Shinose faced Saito in what I imagine was President Hajime Sato saying to Yuuka, “Okay, can I at least have one normal dojo match?”

Then, in the main event, Yuuka teamed with the ace of Diana, Haruka Umesaki, against KiraMiku (Kirari Wakana & Miku Kanae). Kirari and Yuuka train together a lot, but Yuuka had really wanted to team with Umesaki for her birthday, so at the last dojo show Kirari said, “Alright then, I’ll team with someone that I love, too,” hence bringing back Miku, who had stopped doing dojo shows as she became more popular with bookings in other promotions. While we’re here, it’s worth reminding everyone that Kirari really started her breakout as an outstanding rookie during her seven-match trial series, and specifically on the 28th September match against Haruka Umesaki at SKIP City. I mentioned that from the top of my head, because that match was so good that I still remember it, as I finally saw what Kirari was all about. So, I’m always happy to see Umesaki back in Ice Ribbon. So is Yuuka apparently, who got so excited she forearmed her partner right in the chest when leaving the ring following a double team move. This match was awesome and probably one of the best dojo show matches since Misa Kagura and Manami Katsu last year in August. Just hard-hitting action and cool double team moves. I honestly haven’t thought about my Ice Ribbon YouTube subscription cost a single time, and matches like this provide full value for the subscription, as well as helping out a struggling promotion with a great product.

11th July 2026

In the main event, Hikari Minami & Kaho Matsushita faced Saito & Yuuka. The match lasted 1,500 seconds to mark the occasion. I have said before that Yuuka may be the most annoying human on the planet, and that was true here. After signing Kaho’s portraits with her own signature so Kaho would be unable to sell them at the merch table later, she then shoved Kaho’s face near the ring bell and started ringing it right in Kaho’s here. After Yuuka hit a diving forearm on Kaho, Saito pinned Kaho with a crucifix pin. After the win, Saito said she wanted to challenge for a belt, either the tag belt or the ICExFinity belt held by Kaho. That would be a bit much, and Saito agreed, so it seems we are headed towards a Totoro Satsuki & Saito challenge for the belts.

MCW Women’s champion, and notable Australian freelancer Shay Kassidy made her Ice Ribbon debut. According to an Australian friend in-the-know who I will trust, she is a comedy wrestler who sings and dances, a perfect combination for Ice Ribbon! She was in a singles match against Arisa Shinose and okay, yeah, I get what my friend was saying. She does all of those aforementioned things. And, it does work in Ice Ribbon! Hooray!

Another Australian, Lil Marz, returned to Ice Ribbon teaming with Kirari Wakana against Riko & Yappy. Lil Marz is awesome. I’ve met her three times and she makes an effort to have meaningful interactions, a true entertainer, so I’ll never not root for her. I still remember Riko landing on Marz’ face during a jumping jackknife pin at Kitazawa Town Hall in January, so she could get a little revenge here. A lil’ cheap shot. A lil’ elbow when no one’s looking. Of course, Riko is 12 and Lil Marz is far too professional for that. I absolutely burst out laughing when Riko attempted the exact same jackknife pin this time and Marz covered her face this time. To be honest, it is a genuinely scary move if you can’t control your body and Riko is a rookie and still young. It’s these little things fans never think about but end up being kind of dangerous if not executed correctly. I was really surprised that Riko got the win with that jackknife pin on Lil Marz. Long-term storytelling?

PPP Tokyo’s rookie Non Toraga took the same route many of the indie’s rookies take: doing a stint in Ice Ribbon. She faced Totoro Satsuki in a singles match.

31st May 2026
Imaike Gas Hall, Aichi, Japan

Diana returned for its yearly show in Nagoya, although this time it was not only Mizuki Kato’s homecoming but also Anna, who debuted in October after moving away from her hometown. Diana has strong ambitions of touring regionally, so shows like this are important for it to build audiences outside of Tokyo, meaning everyone is in their best form. Despite the homecomings, they had to make way for a blockbuster main event pitting Diana’s two top stars, as Grace of Royalty leader, ace, and double champion, Haruka Umesaki, teamed with her Chobuki teammate Unagi Sayaka to defend their WWWD Tag Team Title against Nijumaru (Nanami Hatano & Rina Amikura). Nanami, currently chasing the ace to establish herself as the centre of Diana, leads her own faction, Tradition & Inherited, which she brought Ami into. Nijumaru were already WWWD Tag Team Champions during the course of 2025, and there was a possibility the titles could change hands here in order to further fuel the rivalry between Umesaki and Nanami. But, it was not to be as Umesaki defeated Nanami, cementing her position at the top of the food chain.

My main comment about the match is that it’s a bit of a catch-22. Diana wants to grow its regional audience, so it needs to book big matches, but those big matches suffer from being away from a passionate crowd who understand the rivalry and love the characters. For example, the match started with Umesaki and Nanami basically just sizing each other up with stiff forearms, which is the usual “Hello, how are you? It’s been a while!” greeting between the two. But those types of exchanges would receive a raucous reaction in Kawasaki or Korakuen Hall. But Diana can’t just sit on all its biggest matches, either. So I guess the short of it is that, for me personally, I love hot crowds and they add a lot to a match for me, but I also can’t fault any of the performers here for not living up to my expectations of what this match could be. It was still great, but I just know it has another gear. Even then, it’s important to note that Umesaki and Nanami were so good that they really got the quiet crowd into the match by the end and peaked at the perfect time. Umesaki won with Blast, her super finisher.

The next two matches were for the homecoming queens. First, Mizuki Kato faced her “Nu Team 200kg” partner, EVO’s Chika. That’s not their official tag team name, but they are heavily inspired by Team 200kg and were put together by Meiko Satomura on a Sendai Girls show. Both had different costumes for this occasion, which were handed down to them by the retired Yuu. Both worked hard. So hard actually that I’ve not actually seen a match where I’ve seen the two get this tired. They resorted to just throwing bombs, and well, that works for me! Mizuki won with a diving splash from the top rope.

Then, the other Nagoya native, Anna, paired up with Makoto and Mochi Natsumi against Jaguar Yokota, fellow young rookie NENE & Diana co-founder Kyoko Inoue. This was actually NENE’s full return from injury too, and considering she got injured right around the time we started full coverage of Diana, I had not seen much of her. I had to double check my notes a few times to see what the teams were, because there was one sequence where Kyoko Inoue was knocking down members of the opposite team, but then Anna kind of just sidestepped her and ignored her and dropkicked NENE, and Kyoko let it pass. I had to check whether Kyoko was on Anna’s team for a second (she wasn’t). That was a pretty funny interaction. These are the matches that drive regional growth. You have some legends and strong freelancers paired with the future of the promotion, and do some light-hearted comedy aimed at entertaining the audience. These will never, and should never, be your high workrate “go go go” matches. The more casual, regional crowds are less likely to remember those, especially in Japan, where comedy is commonplace in every single promotion and not as much of a pejorative as it is in American wrestling.

Caffeine and Crush (Ayako Sato & Debbie Keitel) faced two members of Grace of Royalty in Maika Ozaki & Miran. In typical Debbie fashion, as she tried to tear Miran’s arm off, she screamed at a crying baby to “shut up.” It was a bit of a tough crowd in Nagoya and Debbie understood the assignment and did what she could. The regional tour stops are always more difficult compared to Amistad or Korakuen, as is the case for every single promotion and not a Diana-specific issue.

Madeline, who debuted in Diana in 2019 but was making her first Diana appearance in two years, beat Himiko in the opener.

7th June 2026
Post di Amistad, Kawasaki, Japan
Recommended Match: Ayako Sato & Hanako Nakamori vs. Honoka & Miran

© hiroyukikai1

Back at the Diana dojo for the first time since 20th May, Diana put on a great show from top to bottom, consisting only of tag team matches. To be honest, I prefer tag team matches so that worked perfectly for me. The main event saw the return of one of INVA’s members who hasn’t been seen very often since she joined the unit. PURE-J ace and double champion Hanako Nakamori reunited with her tag team partner Ayako Sato, tag team name Ayaka, to face two of the independent scene’s brightest stars both residing in Grace of Royalty, Honoka & Miran. Honoka joined the unit on 29th March in backstage comments. Let me just say that if you’re looking to jump into Diana for the first time, this is a pretty great place to start. The veterans were the perfect foil for the young starlets to do their thing. This was a classic showcase of the Diana main-event house style, too, so if you liked this, you’re probably going to like Diana, full stop.

Grace of Royalty (Maika Ozaki & Mochi Natsumi) clashed with former WWWD Tag Team Champions Nijumaru (Nanami Hatano & Rina Amikura), both of whom of course represent Namami’s own faction Tradition and Inherited. The surprising thing here was that Maika got the win over Nanami, who I had assumed was going after Umesaki’s WWWD Title. I mean, maybe it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things but it did catch me off guard.

There was a fourty-year age gap as Anna, 16, teamed with founder Kyoko Inoue, 57 against WWWD Champion Haruka Umesaki and Kaho Kobayashi. This was a really important match for Anna. It wasn’t for a title or anything, but it was against the ace of the promotion and built around Anna. The match was quite smartly laid out, with the initial part being more light-hearted and humorous. This was good because one of Anna’s things she is slowly working on is opening up more, and well, comedy is an easy way to do that. Then, the match shifted to Umesaki being a wall for Anna, and Anna kicked out of several moves you’d expect to put her away based on past matches. The hardcore Post di Amistad crowd noticed this and popped big for each kick out. This was a successful day out for rookie Anna.

INVA (Debbie Keitel & Himiko) faced Tradition and Inherited (Hiragi Kurumi & Mizui Kato) in the opener. Himiko has been very entertaining in her role of “get beat up so much that she gets exhausted”. After getting stood on by both Mizuki and Hiragi repeatedly, she finally managed to tag Debbie in. Debbie seemed to have even more of a fire than usual, slapping Mizuki right around the face. That was pretty awesome. Himiko got her own back on Mizuki by winning with a roll-up to take home the win for INVA.

13th June 2026
Nanyo Municipal Gymnasium Sub-Arena, Yamagata, Japan

© hiroyukikai1

Diana continued their regional tour outside of Tokyo by travelling all the way up north to Yamagata for co-founder Kyoko Inoue and Ayako Sato’s annual homecoming show, where she normally brings along some friends. Aja Kong, ace & double champion Haruka Umesaki and Jaguar Yokota faced Kyoko Inoue, Mizuki Kato & Nanami Hatano, who are all part of Nanami’s Tradition & Inherited faction. This was your classic homecoming show main event. Think of your produce show main events at Shinjuku FACE or Shin-Kiba. A lot of heat, crowd brawling, nearfalls, veterans acting as walls for the younger talent. This match had all of that. It was a best two-out-of-three-falls match, with Aja Kong winning the first fall within a minute after hitting a crazy backdrop suplex on Mizuki Kato. Kyoko Inoue defeated Umesaki for the second fall with a lariat, with Jaguar Yokota taking the match for her team after landing a frankensteiner on Nanami, and then following up with an awesome brainbuster-of-sorts. Yes, Jaguar still does crazy shit at her age. This match was a lot of fun.

Miran teamed with All Japan Women’s legend and LLPW-X’s Takako Inoue against INVA (Ayako Sato & Himiko). Despite this show also being Ayako Sato’s homecoming as she is from Yamagata, this match was all about Miran. Ayako Sato continues to be a wall for Miran. Miran has never beaten Ayako Sato, which is very common in Diana as the senpai-kohai structure is quite strict (just look at Kyoko Inoue’s record against her roster). They had a singles match on 5th May, which I was there live for, and it’s clear that their chemistry is excellent, much like Miran’s chemistry with a lot of the roster. The match got the crowd’s full investment and there were a ton of close nearfalls on the homestretch, but ultimately, Ayako won with the Fisherman’s suplex.

Rookie Anne and the person she debuted against, Rina Amikura, faced Kaho Kobayashi & Sumika Yanagawa. Anna’s development makes me really happy. Having endured a brutal set of pro tests under Jaguar Yokota & Kyoko Inoue, and a difficult first few months that did not always suggest she would go on to thrive, her improvement over recent months makes me real proud in a way, and I have no connection to her. I can’t imagine what those around her must be feeling. Anna is the only rookie I’ve seen every single match for as it’s happened, so I find myself rooting strongly for her. The other rookie is probably Selene Misora from SEAdLINNNG, but she was great from the start, so it feels a bit different. I also love that Diana is continuing the mini-rivalry between Anna and Kobayashi. It started off while I was attending the shows during Golden Week, and has continued since then. For some reason, Kaho just loves destroying Anna, and Anna looks very confident in fighting back and giving back as good as she gets. It’s a great senior-junior pairing, even if Kaho isn’t part of Diana and isn’t actively taking part in Anna’s training. Kaho, who previously rocked Anna with a bunch of stiff dropkicks, dropped Anna with an insane enzuigiri on this show, before submitting her with a high angle single leg Boston crab. This was a great opener.

Debbie Keitel had unfair odds against her as she was put in a three-way against two members of Grace of Royalty (Maika Ozaki & Mochi Natsumi). Well, it seemed that Maika and Mochi also forgot they were in the same unit, failing to work well together, leading to Debbie stealing the win with a flash pin.

There was also a match which included wrestlers from Pro Wrestling DEWA, a local Yamagata promotion.

24th June 2026
Post di Amistad, Kawasaki, Japan
Recommended Match: Nanami Hatano vs. Selene Misora

© hiroyukikai1

At another “Future Sight” event, their platform for showcasing younger talent from within the promotion and the wider scene, Diana put on a great card on paper and delivered on it. Nanami Hatano met Selene Misora in the main event, and the backstory to the match is one completely out of left field, especially for someone who is a Selene Misora fan like myself. Very recently it was discovered that the two were originally set to debut together back in 2018, with both making an appearance at a Diana Korakuen Hall show, when Selene was in middle school and Nanami was still in primary school. Selene had joined the Diana dojo out of her love for Sareee (pre-WWE Sareee at that) which speaks to just how significant an influence Sareee already was at that stage of her career, and how little credit she tends to receive for it. Selene ultimately left without debuting before eventually making her debut in SEAdLINNNG in 2025, and her background as a lifelong fan of the sport who had already been through dojo training goes some way to explaining why she has looked so polished since. Selene is one year Nanami’s senior, and this could be the beginning of a rivalry that could last a decade or more. It is amazing to me that Selene somehow keeps finding a way to have interesting, meaningful storylines so early on into her career, and I feel smug about announcing how special she was just a couple matches into her debut. Her appearance in Diana going forward is not just beneficial for herself, but for Diana, too, as this is 100% a match I would recommend anyone to buy the show for, and word of mouth of excellent matches like this is what helps grow the foreign viewership that Diana is looking for.

The match had both women trading forearms like absolute maniacs from the off, an Eric-coded match if ever there was one. Selene also caught my eye with some Miku Kanae-esque transitions into cradles and jackknives, very much a product of her background as a student of the game. Being a lifelong wrestling nerd can be a real asset in the ring, and Selene is another example alongside Senka of that paying dividends. Nanami hit her Ebisu Drop but decided not to go for the pin, instead following up with a crazy spear for the win, a move I do not think I have seen from her before. That is how you start a rivalry. What got me the most was the dynamic at play. Selene is older than Nanami and had seniority over her when they were training in the dojo. Press fast forward seven years and she is a rookie getting dominated by a far more experienced Nanami. It must be a strange, unique experience for both of them.

Also on this show was the fifth meeting of the year between Debbie Keitel and Miran, this time in tag action with Himiko alongside Debbie and Ryoko Sakimura partnering Miran. This was a very fun match throughout. Ryoko Sakimura, while still not the finished article, is improving, and getting five to ten minutes with Debbie here is exactly the sort of experience she needs. Debbie continues to be a one-woman development programme for some of the lost souls of the independent scene trying to find their way back.

Chika from EVO and Mizuki Kato teamed under the name Mogumogyuu, a nod to Team 200kg (with both wearing Yuu’s former gear), against Haruka Umesaki and Yuuka from Ice Ribbon. Yuuka was outstanding here, going to town on Chika’s chest with forearms from the off. The sound of those strikes, on both Chika and Mizuki, was about as loud as forearms as I’ve heard Yuuka throw. Unfortunately the match had to be stopped when Mizuki injured her knee performing her running seated senton, a move that has now caused injury to herself as well as opponents in the past. It was a bad landing and a total accident. Umesaki, initially unaware of what had happened, began to apply a leg lock before Mizuki shoved her off, at which point Umesaki alerted the referee and the match was called. Throughout all of this, Yuuka had continued to forearm Chika’s chest, to the point where Chika had to push her away and direct her attention to what was happening with Kato. It was an unfortunate incident, though Mizuki appearing at the promotion’s birthday show four days later on the 28th is hopefully an encouraging sign.

Anna opened against Misa Kagura and, as a growing Anna fan, this was super fun. She set the tone immediately with a dropkick straight off the bell before launching into a flurry of forearms into Misa’s chest. Misa was in full bully mode in response, openly smiling while locking in a double arm stretch, and wrenching Anna’s hair during a single leg Boston crab. Misa won with her Misatoncrab, a high angle Boston crab.

28th June 2026
Post di Amistad, Kawasaki, Japan

© hiroyukikai1

Given it was Mizuki Kato’s birthday, she was not going to miss it for anything, not even a knee injury. To mark the occasion, Chi Chi made her Diana debut, teaming with Kaho Kobayashi against Mizuki and Hiragi Kurumi. The injury had to be tip-toed around carefully, with Mizuki not moving much when tagged in, and the opponents only going full speed when Mizuki was not in the match. But, towards the end of the match, Mizuki was doing way more stuff than I expected, at one point sprinting into a misfired lariat from Hiragi. Chi Chi took the opportunity to slap on a leg lock, submitting Mizuki, who was not happy about Chi Chi’s evil tactics. Hiragi looked pretty great, I was surprised by how well she was moving compared to her other performances in 2025.

Chi Chi’s debut was not the only newsworthy thing on the show, as Syan Syan made her return following an injury suffered on 8th February. As one of the most promising young wrestlers on the scene, it was a long overdue return and we all missed her greatly. She teamed with her Grace of Royalty unit leader, ace & double champion Haruka Umesaki, against Tradition & Inherited (Kyoko Inoue & Rina Amikura). It was a fitting return as she was given most of the match to just sell like crazy and show the fans what they were missing out on, with her excellent ability to suck the audience into her performances. I’m extremely excited for her upcoming appearances.

Miran and Nanami Hatano were on different pages against Debbie Keitel in a three-way, initially agreeing to work together, but the plan fell apart early on. Debbie was unable to take advantage though, as Nanami came away with the small package win on Miran.

Following an injury to Maika Ozaki, NENE stepped in to team with fellow rookie Anna against INVA (Ayako Sato & Himiko). NENE was originally scheduled to face Ayako in an exhibition match. This was an extremely fun opener, with INVA being total assholes, smiling in glee as they took apart the child rookies.

Syan Syan defeats Fiony (7:21)

Anna, Mochi Natsumi & Rina Amikura defeat Maika Ozaki, Misa Kagura & NENE (13:42)

Debbie Keitel & Maria defeat Honoka & Mizuki Kato (12:10)

Hiragi Kurumi, Kyoko Inoue & Nanami Hatano defeat Himiko, Jaguar Yokota & Makoto (13:25)

World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana Crystal Title:
Miran (c) defeats CoCo (10:02)

World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana Tag Team Title:
Ayako Sato & Hanako Nakamori defeat Haruka Umesaki & Unagi Sayaka (c) (15:46)

Cherry, Natsu Sumire & YuuRI defeat Mochi Natsumi, Saito & Yuko Sakurai (15:00)

Catch The Wave 2026 Young Block:
Miria Koga [3] defeats Shiono [0] (3:57)

Catch The Wave 2026 Elizabeth Block:
Miyako Matsumoto [3] defeats Kaori Yoneyama [0] and Yumi Ohka [0] (11:17)

Catch The Wave 2026 Namijo Swell Block:
SAKI [3] defeats Kaho Kobayashi [0] (9:51)

Catch The Wave 2026 Namijo Breaker Block:
Rina Amikura [3] defeats Cohaku [0] (8:46)

Catch The Wave 2026 Namijo Swell Block:
Itsuki Aoki [3] defeats Maika Ozaki [0] (8:51)

Catch The Wave 2026 Namijo Surge Block:
Honoka [3] defeats Saran [0] (9:56)

3rd May 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 413
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Honoka vs. Saran

The “CATCH THE WAVE” tournament started which is the biggest joshi indie tournament on the calendar and following it last year was incredibly fun, so it was quite surreal seeing it kicked off in person this time. I got there early and of course, as always, some fun meet and greets took place. I didn’t realise SEAdLINNNG GM (and one of the GOATs) Arisa Nakajima was going to be there supporting Miria Koga. She was by herself before the show at a merch table so I went up to her after explaining what Social Suplex does and showing her our SEAdLINNNNG reviews, she opened up her wallet and gave me her own business card. I own Arisa Nakajima’s business card. That’s a bit weird. In a good way. I felt so bad that I just bought another Miria Koga t-shirt (I now have a hoodie and a t-shirt of hers and she is not my favourite SEAd wrestler). I went back after to see if I could get a signed portrait of Arisa, and she didn’t have any portraits. I told her she’s one of the best ever, but I still have a rule of if I take up a wrestler’s time, then I need to buy something. So I bought a Miria Koga towel. Yes, that’s three Miria items now because of my rule.

I also met Regina di WAVE Champion Itsuki Aoki at this show who is one of my favourites currently. She’s started a Shupro blog recently where she said she is a totally different person outside of the ring, shy and timid, and it was hard for her to write, so she wanted people to encourage her whenever they see her or DM her with certain phrases like “I read it!” So after the longest queue I’ve ever been in, I quoted back all of the things she said in the blog that she wanted people to say. She seemed a bit speechless, in a good way.

But, there’s always some bad with the good. On the elevator on the way up to the 5th floor at Korakuen Hall, an elderly Japanese guy lightly bumped into me. No problem. But then he started talking to me and asked about my shirt, etc. I’m waiting for Itsuki to show up (she never did, she was showing up after the show only), so I’m just kind of standing with him. He tells me he’s waiting for mochi Natsumi, then he starts gesturing that she has big breasts and says “body dynamite” in broken English. I’m like great, doing the stereotype of a joshi fan real wonders here. There’s still work for us to do to shed that perception of joshi fans.

The opener, a six-woman tag pitting Cherry, Natsu Sumire, and YuuRI against Mochi Natsumi, Saito, and Yuko Sakurai, was a solid match built around getting Saito over, who deserves to be in better company than she currently finds herself in. Natsu provided some unintentional comedy during her entrance, walking up to a fan who had not taken a photo of her and posing until she essentially bullied him into it. A hard skip at home, but fine for what it was.

Miria Koga then faced Up Town rookie Shiono in a Young Block match. Shiono’s theme is something approximating white noise, barely registering as an entrance theme at all. The match itself was frustrating to watch. Koga’s strength is her physicality and aggression, and whenever she strays from that and tries to work a more considered match she looks lost. Shiono had her in a Boston crab at one point, which was not a good sign. To her credit, Koga closed it out with a stiff kick and at least kept it short. If she wants to model herself on Syuri she needs to carry that same seriousness into every moment of a match, and she was not there yet here, looking nervy throughout and blanking fan calls entirely.

The Elizabeth Block three-way of Kaori Yoneyama, Miyako Matsumoto, and Yumi Ohka was notable mainly for Ohka arriving with sponsors literally embroidered onto her coat, which sums up the financial realities of wrestling for WAVE in 2026. Matsumoto picked up the win.
Kaho Kobayashi and SAKI was probably about as good as a SAKI match gets at this point. Kaho was blasting her with lariats that looked devastating while almost nothing SAKI threw back carried any real impact, making for a jarring contrast. SAKI took the win with a running brainbuster, the one move in her arsenal that still looks convincing.

Cohaku and Rina Amikura, who had a good title match together in Shizuoka in September 2025, put on a hard-hitting, all-action contest that was one of the better matches on the card. Cohaku’s offence has real stiffness to it, even more pronounced live, and there was a good near fall off a kickout of the W Amin Buster. They built to a nice finish with a series of cradle attempts from Cohaku before Rina reversed one for the win.

Itsuki Aoki against Maika Ozaki was exactly the kind of match Aoki excels at. Maika held up well in a hard-hitting format and Itsuki was walloping her throughout, though Maika’s no-selling of a rebound German was not the right way to do a fighting spirit spot. Aoki’s charisma is extraordinary and she finished with a beast of a running lariat.

The match of the night was Honoka against Saran. Saran was at her most fired up I have ever seen her, and the contrast with Honoka’s comparatively lighter strikes only made Saran look more devastating. She scouted the handspring elbow and launched a dropkick right into it, showed some really impressive armbar transitions including ripping Honoka’s arm while she was running the ropes, and landed a nasty double foot stomp. The finish was great. Saran went for a diving double foot stomp, Honoka rolled out of the way, and Saran rolled through the landing, only for Honoka to use her momentum to rebound her off the turnbuckle into an O’Connor roll for the win. Honoka was visibly selling a potential injury on her way to the merch table afterwards. A goat performance from both.

4th May 2026
Post di Amistad, Kawasaki, Japan

© hiroyukikai1

On a show where audio was only coming from the left earphone (I know I’m not the only one that is offended by that), WAVE held five more matches of the Catch the WAVE 2026 tournament. First up was a “Breaker Block” match between Haruka Umesaki and Momoka Hanazono. It was a characteristically Momoka match, hitting all the usual beats, including her stealing a win with La Magistral for the 3 points. In the “Surge Block” match, ZONES lost to Saran by a flash hurricanrana. Saran has really improved in the past year and I’m hoping that this is a key breakout tournament for her. She looked great in this match and the finish was super clean, countering ZONES’ running lariat finisher.

The “Elizabeth Block” saw Miyako Matsumoto pick up a second win in a row, this time over Yumi Ohka and Mochi Natsumi.

Finally, there were two “Young Block” matches, first between Miria Koga and Saito and then between Diana rookie Anna and Miku Kanae. Miria had just destroyed Saito’s fellow Up Town colleague Shiono on the previous show in under four minutes. Saito lasted longer than Shiono by about a minute. Miria continued to be the dismissive heel, beating up Saito after the bell in the same way she had done to Shiono at Korakuen Hall. Miria is always best when she’s being aggressive so I like that energy. Miku pinned Anna with her unique diving Swanton bomb where she tucks her arms in. Despite the loss, Anna made a promising start to her first ever foray outside of Diana.

6th May 2026
Post di Amistad, Kawasaki, Japan

WAVE must have transported their faulty hardware to Kariya because this show also only played audio out of the left ear. Hooray! In the first main block match, Arisa Shinose picked up a shock flash pin over WAVE’s top homegrown star in Honoka, while Cohaku beat WAVE Tag Team Champion Yuko Sakurai. This was actually a pretty great match. I say ‘actually’ because I haven’t enjoyed a lot of Sakurai matches as much as other WAVE wrestlers but this was one of her better performances. Cohaku was as great as always. Finally, Natsu Sumire beat SAKI. I’m sorry, if you’re a long-time reader you already know I didn’t watch that. SAKI won.

10th May 2026
TOKYOSQUARE, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: MIRAI vs. Momoka Hanazono

© hiroyukikai1

At this point, I felt like I was being trolled by WAVE. Another day, another left-only audio stream. It can’t be me, because every other media is playing out of both my headphones.

The first match saw STARDOM’s Rian begin her Catch the WAVE 2026 tournament against the home promotion’s Saran. It is quite funny that WAVE went from Saya Kamitani in 2024, to Hazuki and Ranna Yagami in 2025, to Rian in 2026. A bit of a downgrade (and I like Rian). It was also funny that Saran was playing the heel early on in this match, beating Rian at her own game by stomping on Rian’s body parts (her hands rather than the feet that Rian normally targets). I can’t say I remember much else from this match despite having just finished it. The match ended in a time-limit draw, meaning Rian picked up two points and Saran one point, as Rian debuted after Saran.

MIRAI also made her tournament debut against Momoka Hanazono and this was another Momoka classic, with MIRAI playing great off of Momoka. This match had all of Momoka’s usual antics, such as playing dead, crying for sympathy and not returning it, party poppers and the toy dog. But MIRAI playing a role she doesn’t normally, made that dynamic work to an even greater degree. For example, Momoka’s toy dog started slowly walking into the ring, and MIRAI noticed it, was distracted by it and then decided “f- it” and picked it up before exclaiming, “KAWAIIIII~” and pressing it close to her face. Momoka sprinted at MIRAI and dropped her with a brutal sliding kick to the face. It was amazing. The finish was equally good, as MIRAI feigned crying to try and stop Momoka from doing a diving dropkick, but Momoka just hit her anyway. Momoka ran the ropes but was met with MIRAI’s awesome lariat into a Miramare Shock for the three-count.

In the main event, Regina di WAVE Champion Itsuki Aoki and Kaho Kobayashi ran back their feud from earlier in the year. They had really good chemistry in that feud in the preview tags and the title match itself, and it was no different here. It was a good match but unfortunately it ended in yet another time-limit draw, the third on the card. Itsuki picked up the two points for having a shorter career.

Elsewhere, Cherry defeated Miyako Matsumoto and Yumi Ohka in the Elizabeth block and Maika Ozaki and SAKI went to a draw in the Swell block. It was quite a solid match for SAKI, which means it was just alright.

19th May 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Cohaku vs. MIRAI

© hiroyukikai1

In the main event at Shinjuku FACE we had a premier match-up in the Breaker Block as Cohaku went up against MIRAI. These two were great. I mean, when you look at the card and see these two in a match, you already knew it was going to be good, and it was. They are obviously constrained by the 10-minute time-limit, but this was probably the second best match of the tournament. It is funny how much MIRAI has added to this tournament, with her match with Hanazono being my favourite so far. It just felt like two elite wrestlers going at it, the moves were executed cleanly, they used the most out of the time-limit they had and they bumped hard for each other. After kicking out of Cohaku’s Paquete flash pin (to a huge pop), MIRAI couldn’t kick out of the second attempt.

Also in the Breaker Block, first we had Momoka Hanazono against Yuko Sakurai. The match started off with a series of really cool backslide attempts, including one where Momoka was doing a headstand. I saw a fan immediately grab their phone and try to catch the moment on camera, but I’m not sure they got it in time. As with a lot of Momoka’s matches, there were some ref bumps, in a fun way, such as Momoka immediately tapping out to a dragon sleeper but referee Mio Shirai crying in the corner because Sakurai had accidentally hit her. To be honest, I thought the match should’ve ended shortly after. Not every match needs to hit the 10-minute time limit, and I sort of zoned out after all those spots early in the match, it felt like that was the peak of the match. This match was so weird. There was a spot where Yuko Sakurai would jump off the turnbuckle doing a diving senton but Momoka was miles away so Momoka would just put on a jackknife pin right after. Did Sakurai not learn from the first time? I grew to resent this match the longer it went on after it had such a hot start. It went to a time-limit draw. I almost would’ve preferred them to just fill the match with Momoka comedy spots than do what they did here if they had to draw. Sakurai got the 2 points due to debuting two weeks after Momoka. Maybe they just wanted the pop for that announcement.

The Swell Block match-up saw Regina Di WAVE Champion Itsuki Aoki against one of her closest colleagues Natsu Sumire. This was supposed to be a title match in February, where Natsu faced Kaho Kobayashi in the final of a #1 Contender tournament but the match had to be stopped due to Natsu getting injured. I was, and still am, sure that Natsu was supposed to win given how close Itsuki and Natsu are and because Itsuki mentioned Natsu so many times in her post-match promo at Korakuen Hall when she defended against Kaho. So, that’s what made me think Natsu was winning the whole thing, but then, Itsuki pinned Natsu clean in this match. They brawled a lot, threw water at each other, destroyed each other with moves on the apron, but ultimately Itsuki got pissed off and put her friend away.

In the Surge Block, the foot stamper Rian went to another time-limit draw with freelancer ZONES. I hope Rian is actually going to eat some pins at some point!

There were two matches in the Young block as the two least experienced wrestlers in the tournament faced off, Diana’s Anna and Rose’s Konomi Hori. It was hilarious to see Konomi act as the senior and absorb Anna’s dropkicks, which is probably her best move. Of course, Konomi is older than Anna, but Anna debuted four months before Konomi. This did actually play into the finish as Konomi was clearly too arrogant and got caught out with a backslide.

On the flipside, we had the two most experienced wrestlers in the block, Miria Koga and Miku Kanae also have their tournament match. Miria continued her meanstreak, lighting up Miku with kicks and shoving her foot right in Miku’s face. This is the Miria I want to see every single match. Miku fought back, attacking Miria’s strength by latching on a leg lock. One of the things about this tournament is that some of the results become predictable. At one point, Miria dropkicked Miku to the outside of the ring, and I immediately knew they were doing a double count out, which is exactly what happened. They are the two favourites in the block so it made sense though. Double count-outs award no points to either wrestler, so they obviously wanted to avoid one going ahead of the other in the block, with both sitting on 6 points.

Yumi Ohka picked up her first points in the Elizabeth Block against Kaori Yoneyama and Cherry.

24th May 2026
176BOX, Osaka, Japan

The main event featured a Swell Block clash as Regina Di WAVE Champion Itsuki Aoki took on her Hokakudo teammate Kakeru Sekiguchi. This was a solid main event, restricted by the 10-minute time-limit which passed. Given they have a career two weeks apart, you can count on WAVE to book a draw. Itsuki debuted two weeks after Kakeru so picked up the two points.

There was a single Breaker Block match when Momoka Hanazono took on one half of the WAVE Tag Team Champions, Rina Amikura. At the start of the match, Ami was on the turnbuckle, and normally when that happens, Momoka kisses her opponent. So, Ami puckered up, but Momoka was so disgusted. Ami went blind with rage at being rejected and chased that kiss for much of the match. Ami didn’t even fall for Momoka’s toy cat, hurling it at Momoka and hitting the W Ami Buster for a nearfall. Momoka tried to hit the party popper, but Ami was immune to it, kissed Momoka and rolled her up for the win. It was so funny that you could see Momoka gagging while she was getting rolled up. It’s the little details.

There were two Surge Block matches as homegrown talent and one of the brightest stars in the independent scene, Honoka, beat ZONES. In the other Surge Block match, Arisa Shinose defeated Saran.

Kaori Yoneyama defeated Mochi Natsumi and Yumi Ohka in the Elizabeth block, meaning Yumi Ohka was now one win and four losses.

1st June 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

The Swell block main-evented the night, first with Maika Ozaki taking on Natsu Sumire and then Regina Di WAVE Champion Itsuki Aoki closing out the show against SAKI. Both were not noteworthy matches, with Maika and Itsuki both picking up wins.

In the Breaker block, Rina Amikura defeated her WAVE Tag Team Champion partner Yuko Sakurai in a solid match. The other Breaker match saw Haruka Umesaki and MIRAI battle it out to a 10-minute time-limit draw in what was the match of the night, meaning MIRAI is racking up MOTN performances like nobody’s business. If you were looking for the best matches to watch in this tournament, you won’t really go wrong just picking every Cohaku and MIRAI match.

Rian continued her Reign of Terror through the tournament as she picked up a win against Arisa Shinose in the Surge block. That means that Rian now tops the group with 1 win and 2 draws, resulting in 7 points. That means that Rian, yes, Rian, is now top of the Surge block, ahead of key WAVE contracted talent like Honoka and Saran.

Saito pinned Konomi Hori to gain 3 points in the Young block, while Cherry picked up her points in a win against Kaori Yoneyama and Miyako Matsumoto in the Elizabeth block.

6th June 2026
Post di Amistad, Kawasaki, Japan
Recommended Match: Saran vs. YuuRI

© LUSH_OJISAN

In the Surge Block, WAVE’s own Saran main-evented the show against GanPro’s YuuRI, who was having her first match in the tournament this year. The tournament schedule is always wacky like that. YuuRI is a good mid-level independent scene gatekeeper, something of a budget Sareee for the smaller promotions. More affordable and able to play that hard-hitting “wall” for the younger wrestlers on the independent scene. She had her chest out encouraging Saran to hit her, and when YuuRI finally hit back it was with a disgusting forearm. Saran looked like she was either crying or hurt. The fact she was neither tells you how good this sell was from Saran. Saran is improving at a visible rate, and this year’s tournament feels like a catalyst for that. She kicked off the tournament in the Korakuen Hall main event against Honoka and killed it. So really, the Catch the WAVE Tournament made me catch on to Saran. Haha! Haha. Hah. (I’m so lonely.) Saran’s comeback in this match was built around double foot stomps delivered anywhere and everywhere she could find the opportunity, inside the ring, outside it, diving from the ropes. But a big release German suplex from YuuRI folded Saran in half, only temporarily as she immediately got up with fighting spirit and locked in a wrist clutch Northern Lights for a great nearfalls. There was an awesome back-and-forth see-saw cradle spot, you know the ones where they get constant two counts. In this one, Saran got a leg clutch in a 2.99999 count before YuuRI kicked out at the last possible moment, reversed the momentum and then immediately choked Saran out for the finish. This was a great match. In the other Surge Block match, ZONES pinned Arisa Shinose with the Death Valley Driver for two points.

There were two sole matches in both the Swell and Breaker Blocks. In the Breaker Block, MIRAI and Yuko Sakurai went to a 10-minute limit. This was by no means a competitor for MIRAI’s three other ‘Best of the Tournament’ matches against Momoka Hanazono, Cohaku and Haruka Umesaki, but it was good. MIRAI is so good in fact that she made me get into this match, which I really wasn’t expecting to as Yuko has never been a favourite of mine. In the Swell Block match between Kakeru Sekiguchi and SAKI, the VOD was cut during this match due to an injury. SAKI appeared to tweak her left hamstring on a routine move, visibly holding it and showing signs of pain. When the footage resumed, she attempted to continue wrestling but buckled, and the referee immediately stopped the match. I am guessing that she received medical attention during the gap in footage. This gave Kakeru the win.

There were two Young Block matches. First, Miku Kanae and Saito, both on six points, fought for the honour of continuing to tie Miria at the top of the group. It was a short match which Miku won. In the other block match, Anna, in her home at the Diana dojo, faced fellow Kawasaki-resident Miria Koga. I may well have been hearing things, but I thought I could hear one of Anna’s seniors, Debbie Keitel, cheering for Anna from the dressing room just behind the wall, much as she had done during Anna’s pro test, perhaps helping to settle Anna’s nerves here in a different promotion. What I am certain about is that I am really getting into Anna at the moment. Six months ago she was struggling with selling more than almost any rookie I had seen, but the growth is right there in front of you and makes her easy to root for. Stories like Anna’s are exactly why I love following rookies. You see them at their worst when they debut and then they are on an upwards trajectory from that point onwards. Miria, meanwhile, is completely unhinged in this tournament. She absolutely unloaded on Anna with a bicycle kick before following it up with one of the nastiest missile dropkicks I’ve seen, that sent Anna’s head buckling backwards. I hope Anna was okay. This was a really fun Young Block match.

10th June 2026
TOKYOSQUARE, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan

This show was main evented by one half of the WAVE Tag Team Champions, Rina Amikura, taking on the stand-out performer of the tournament, MIRAI, in the Breaker Block. The other Breaker Block Match saw Haruka Umesaki against Amikura’s tag team partner Yuko Sakurai, who lost her match to continue her winless streak in the tournament.

Rian’s reign of terror came to an end when YuuRI picked up the three points against her in the Surge Block.

In the Swell Block, Kaho Kobayashi and Kakeru Sekiguchi went to a time-limit draw, as has happened quite frequently in this tournament because it’s quite difficult to book freelancers to lose regularly and WAVE are entirely dependent on freelancers.

In the first Young Block match, there was a surprise victory as Anna picked up her very first win in her short career, defeating Saito. When she first climbed to the middle rope and hit a dropkick, I was figuring that might be the finish simply because it was a new move she was debuting. I bought the nearfall. Then, she went to the other corner and climbed the middle rope, and hit the dropkick again. This time it actually was the finish. Even though I bought the first one, I was so surprised Anna actually won. I have been saying that Anna’s best move is her dropkick, so it made total sense for that to be her finisher for now. In the other Young Block match, Miku Kanae defeated Konomi Hori in simple fashion.

Mochi Natsumi defeated Cherry and Miyako Matsumoto in the Elizabeth Block.

20th June 2026
Yokohama Radiant Hall, Kanagawa, Japan

In the Breaker Block, Haruka Umesaki defeated WAVE Tag Team Champion Rina Amikura with a flash pin, while in the main event, Cohaku defeated Momoka Hanazono. The main event was pretty good and Cohaku continues to be a standout performer in this year’s tournament. The result set up a decisive match between Cohaku and Umesaki on the next show.

In the Swell Block, Kakeru Sekiguchi lost to a flash pin by Natsu Sumire, and Maika Ozaki convincingly beat Kaho Kobayashi to go second in the group.

YuuRI defeated Arisa Shinose in the Surge Block to continue her undefeated start to the tournament.

Miria Koga defeated Konomi Hori to go even with Miku Kanae in the Young Block with 12 points each (both have 4 wins, 0 losses, 1 double count out draw against each other). That set up a deciding match on 3rd July. Miria has been pretty awesome this tournament, and had a sick spin kick in this match. She has looked the most comfortable in this tournament than she ever has in her career. That’s why it’s important to send your talent out to other promotions and to try new things.

21st June 2026
Green Dome Maebashi Sub-Event Area, Gunma, Japan

There were only two tournament matches on day 11, the first was Honoka and YuuRI going to a draw in the Surge Block, while later in the show, Cohaku and Haruka Umesaki went to a time-limit draw in their decisive match in the Breaker Block. Death, taxes, and time-limit draws in decisive matches during “Catch the WAVE” season. The result meant that Cohaku would face MIRAI for a tiebreaker for the winner of the Breaker Block.

In the opener, Anna & Konomi Hori lost to Miria Koga & Saito. This was the first non-tournament match I had seen in a while and it was purely because Anna is my rookie from Diana and Miria has been on fire. Here she was kicking Konomi so hard that Konomi had to exit the ring, only for Miria to stare at her with such a disappointed look on her face. At one point, Saito broke up the pin accidentally that Miria had on Konomi, getting confused by the fact both have red gear. The crowd (and I) laughed at that one.

28th June 2026
CREATE Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan

This was a bit of a cooldown in the schedule before three back-to-back shows. The only reason I checked this show out was for the “HAMAMATSU Premium Wave” match with Aja Kong, Honoka & SAKI taking on Chika, Cohaku & VENY. VENY debuted in WAVE before a bit of an acrimonious split in 2018. She returned in 2020 for a single match, 2021 for 2 matches before ramping up her schedule in 2023 entering that year’s Catch the WAVE Tournament, winning, but failing to beat Yuki Miyazaki for the Regina Di WAVE Title. Since then, she has dropped back to just doing a match or two here or there, meaning her matches deserve the “Premium Wave” label. This was a really fun main event, with VENY being scared of Aja Kong, WAVE colleagues Honoka and Cohaku going at it full speed, and SAKI being a polar bear in Arlington, Texas.

Cherry beat Mochi Natsumi and Yumi Ohka in the Elizabeth Block.

1st July 2026
Post di Amistad, Kawasaki, Japan

This show had two really good matches, with both well above what I was expecting going in. Both took place in the Surge Block to determine the final standings there. In the first, YuuRI took on ZONES in a match I enjoyed a lot, to the point where the time limit draw actually caught me off guard, which isn’t the norm for a “Catch the WAVE” match. Usually you can sense the ten-minute draw coming from how these matches are worked, but not here. ZONES was out of the tournament as a result, with YuuRI clocking up 11 points. Honoka against Rian was the highlight of the show, and I’d say it’s Rian’s best match in the tournament so far, which isn’t a surprise given the opponent. It was also interesting seeing Rian work in a smaller room than she’s used to, she did well getting the crowd fired up throughout. Her cutter got a big pop, and she later tried to choke Honoka out with a rear naked choke. Honoka fired back with a dropkick to the face, which prompted a fighting spirit spot from Rian followed by a stunner. Rian went for her Hanagurume finisher but Honoka reversed it into a jackknife for a near fall. Honoka ultimately won with her signature bridging O’Connor roll, capping off a great match. Rian didn’t make it through the tournament because of the loss, which surprised me given how well her run had been going up to that point, but it’s solid booking for her regardless. Honoka would take on YuuRI on the next show for a tiebreaker as both were on 11 points.

Kaho Kobayashi beat Natsu Sumire in the Swell Block, and Kaori Yoneyama won the three way Elizabeth Block match over Cherry and Mochi Natsumi.

2nd July 2026
TOKYOSQUARE, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan

Day 14 was more of a final wrap-up more than anything else. Kakeru Sekiguchi booked her place in the quarterfinal by beating Maika Ozaki in the Swell Block, and then both YuuRI and MIRAI clinched first place in their blocks by beating Honoka and Cohaku respectively in tiebreaker matches. Both were solid matches, but it was clear they were holding stuff back for the later rounds.

3rd July 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Cohaku vs. Honoka

© hiroyukikai1

The Young Block was decided by the unbeaten participants, SEAdLINNNG’s Miria Koga and T-HEARTS’ Miku Kanae. This was the pair’s second meeting in the tournament, after their first ended in a double count-out to protect this one for the main event slot. It was a pretty great final. The question going in was which Miria Koga would turn up as the cold-blooded killer we’d seen through the tournament, or someone who’d shrink against an opponent who could match her. She answered that question as she retained the edge she’d shown throughout. Miku Kanae kept unloading German suplexes, up to 20 now since the start of 2025 when she began using the move, but it was Miria who landed the last one, a beautiful bridging German suplex hold for the win. Arisa Nakajima can chalk this one up as a win in the booking match against Yumiko Hotta.

Miria’s post-match selling was excellent, in tears and selling her leg well. It was a great promo as she said she was going to take the POP Title from Honoka. Honoka said that she and Miria knew each other from their days as fans, since both went to a lot of shows before being inspired to wrestle.

Following the tiebreakers on the 2nd July show, the eight quarter-finalists for the tournament were locked in. Itsuki Aoki, Cohaku and YuuRI picked up the spots by winning their blocks, while joining them were the five highest finishers, MIRAI, Rina Amikura, Haruka Umesaki, Kakeru Sekiguchi and Honoka. It made for a strong set of quarter-finals, and an equally good final four to close the show.

MIRAI remains one of my favourite sellers on the roster, whether or not it’s a trait she gets much credit for elsewhere. In her quarter final match against YuuRI, the high point came after a rear naked choke into a high angle German suplex, a combination which looked like it should be the finish given how well MIRAI sold it. Even knowing the result going in, MIRAI’s selling nearly had me biting on the nearfall. She moved through to the semi-finals.

Haruka Umesaki got the win with a flash pin over Kakeru Sekiguchi. Kakeru isn’t a wrestler who does a great deal for me, and there isn’t much more to say about this one.

Honoka beat Cohaku in one of the biggest upsets of the tournament, while also making the case for her as one of the best babyfaces in the scene. Honoka is so aggressive and intense that she convinces you both that she’s struggling and that you should root for her, which is remarkable given she’s only been wrestling for three years. The finish came when Honoka countered a Cohaku’s Paquete attempt into a flash pin, going for her own bridge but ending up putting all her weight onto Cohaku instead, for a big upset that popped the crowd. It’s a huge win for Honoka, beating her senior in the promotion, and landmark enough that I’d guess this is her moment for this tournament rather than a step towards actually winning it.

Itsuki Aoki got the win over a popular Rina Amikura. Itsuki moved through to the semi-finals.

Cherry, Miyako Matsumoto, Yumi Ohka, Kaori Yoneyama & Mochi Natsumi went into the match with two of them set to be eliminated, leaving three to fight it out in the block final on the 12th July. There wasn’t much to sink your teeth into here, with a string of double pinfalls doing more to decide who was staying than to tell any kind of story. Mochi Natsumi and Cherry were the two eliminated, leaving Kaori Yoneyama, Miyako Matsumoto and Yumi Ohka through to the final.

“Namionna Swell” Block

• Itsuki Aoki — 13 pts (3-0-2) – advances
• Kakeru Sekiguchi — 9 pts (2-1-2) – advances via top 5 points
• Maika Ozaki — 8 pts (2-2-1)
• SAKI — 7 pts (2-2-1)
• Kaho Kobayashi — 5 pts (1-2-2)
• Natsu Sumire — 3 pts (1-4-0)

“Namionna Breaker” Block

• MIRAI — 10 pts (2-1-2) – advances via tiebreaker
• Cohaku — 10 pts (3-1-1) – advances via top 5 points
• Rina Amikura — 9 pts (3-2-0) – advances via top 5 points
• Haruka Umesaki — 9 pts (2-1-2) – advances via top 5 points
• Momoka Hanazono — 4 pts (1-3-1)
  Yuko Sakurai — 3 pts (0-3-2)

“Namionna Surge” Block

• YuuRI — 11 pts (3-0-2) – advances via tiebreaker
• Honoka — 11 pts (3-1-1) – advances via top 5 points
• Rian — 7 pts (1-2-2)
• Arisa Shinose — 6 pts (2-3-0)
• ZONES — 6 pts (1-2-2)
• Saran — 4 pts (1-3-1)

“Young” Block

• Miria Koga — 12 pts (4-0-1) – winner of block (beat Miku in final)
• Miku Kanae — 12 pts (4-0-1)
• Anna — 9 pts (3-2-0)
• Saito — 6 pts (2-3-0)
• Konomi Hori — 3 pts (1-4-0)
• Shiono — 0 pts (0-5-0) – forfeited due to retiring from wrestling

“Elizabeth” Block

• Cherry — 6 pts (2-3-0)
• Miyako Matsumoto — 6 pts (2-3-0)
• Mochi Natsumi — 6 pts (2-3-0)
• Kaori Yoneyama — 6 pts (2-3-0)
• Yumi Ohka — 6 pts (2-3-0)

16th May 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

© AWG

Life without Natsuki continued in AWG’s first show since her retirement at Shin-Kiba. I’m not going to lie, it felt a bit weird to watch the opening babyface’s dance routine without Natsuki at the front leading it. That did make me a bit sad. But alas, the show must go on and it was Marino Saihara at the centre of the opening dance routine. The former AWG champion teamed with Yukina Uehara as Harahara Red against Yukina’s unit, Asako Army (Asako Mia & Chii Aoba). Asako had already had a previous shot at this belt a few weeks ago, teaming with MARU, but she was back for more and this time, with someone from her own unit, and quietly one of the better wrestlers on the roster in Ice Cream Girl Chii. However, the titles weren’t on the line this time. Asako and Chii stole the belts at the start of the match and ran to AWG Representative Sakaguchi (the person responsible for a hell of a lot of the wrestlers in the scene due to his impressive scouting ability, and less impressive booking ability). They pleaded for it to be turned into a title match. He just kept scrolling Twitter on his phone and said no. The non-title match was then kicked off. Asako called for Asako Army’s secret “Formation S”, and they executed it onto Marino which included Yukina hitting her hip attack on her own partner. As with every Asako main event, there were some close, exciting nearfalls, but Yukina won with her awesome looking Heel Drop 180 (axe kick). After the match, Asako spoke about how useless she was with only 3 wins in 400 matches. Everyone made her feel better, and then she immediately switched up and spoke about how one of those wins was against the “legendary Natsuki”. She then turned to Marino and just smugly smiled. Marino isn’t necessarily tied to Natsuki, so why she did that is unknown, but that makes it even funnier.

In the opener hard-hitting rookie Kana Yufuku faced former AWG Champion Rico Fukunaga in a singles match. Kana is “Yellow” in the Actwres 5 unit, where Rico is a senior member as “Blue”, so this was a tune-up match between unitmates. Kana was getting annoyed at Rico’s kicks so said, “Hey, we’re teammates, can’t you just chill with the kicks?” Rico agreed and Kana squealed with excitement, but then Rico blasted her with a kick anyway. This was a fun short opener. Rico gave her a pep talk saying she’s very energetic (true) and talented (true) and should go after a belt (it was not clear which one).

One of the better tag teams in the entire scene, rookies Polaris (Anri & Erisa Nagai) took on two wrestlers who have struggled in AWG in Hinata Senya and Nanami Togi. Not only have they struggled in the ring but they are still treated as juniors in terms of what jobs they are giving outside of the ring, such as manning the door for tickets. Togi debuted in 2023 and Hinata in 2024. Togi looked solid, but given it has been years already it will be difficult for them to rise through the promotion. Erisa won with a draping Diamond Cutter, which was a new move I hadn’t seen from her.

New rookie Mugi Kakuhen took part in a challenging singles match against the new ace of AWG Nagisa Shiotsuki. It was a short match clocking in under 6 minutes, but so far Mugi is showing good signs. After the match, Nagisa spoke about how much harder Mugi’s forearms had become (they were in fact quite stiff), and asked her to team with her on 27th May at Shinjuku FACE. Mugi agreed.

Rio continued her feud with Killer’Z leaders MARU and Mari in a tag match, where Rio brought along Sakura Mizushima. After being rejected from Killer’Z months ago, Rio and Mari have had multiple tag matches with and against each other to hash out their issues, which included Mari ripping off the Killer’Z shirt from Rio and bleaching it during the match. This was another MARU classic. There’s no other way to describe these types of matches. The 45-year-old veteran’s forte is creating entertaining chaotic matches with inventive spots. There was an awesome spot where Mari jumped on Rio’s back to stop her from attacking MARU, and then Sakura jumped on Mari’s back for a triple body squish onto MARU. Following that, they placed Sakura in the middle of the top and middle ropes in the corner and then suplexing Rio onto her, and Rio is a big gal, so Sakura got absolutely crushed. MARU won with a diving double foot stomp on Rio. This was 17 minutes that felt like a breeze. MARU challenged Sakura to a singles match in Shinjuku. MARU beat Sakura for the KING Title on 1st October 2025 before later losing it to Nagisa on 20th December 2025.

27th May 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Yukina Uehara vs. Yuri Yamane

© AWG

AWG were back at Shinjuku FACE for what I assume is the last time for a special show sponsored by LIDET Entertainment, the people behind GLEAT. I think there was even commentary on this show, or people were dangerously close to the microphone the whole show. I am going to assume it was intentional commentary, but that did take me aback as that never happens. The opening sequence was different from the usual show with everyone dressed in kimonos rather than the usual heel and babyface outfits. Love Riddle was pretty great though as the special part of it was all of Actwres 5 doing a sequence together, which isn’t something you see very often, but as they were teaming together in the main event it made sense to do it here. In the main event we had a rare ten-women elimination tag team match as heels Killer’Z (Ayano Irie, Haruka Ishikawa, MARU, Nanami Togi & Nene Arahata) took on babyfaces Actwres 5 (Kana Yafuku, Marino Nishimura, Marino Saihara, Riko Fukunaga & Sakura Mizushima) in another chapter of their forever-war. This was good fun with some crazy moments like Haruka murdering Kana with one of the most deadliest backdrop suplexes she’s thrown. Marino Saihara won for the babyfaces with an MRN Smash on Ayano Irie.

As this show was sponsored by LIDET Entertainment (the owners of GLEAT), there were also two UWF bouts on this card, both of which I was excited to watch. In the first, rookie Yuri Yamane, who has a legitimate background in kempo, faced Yukina Uehara, whose improvement over the past 6 months can be partially credited to her UWF appearances and training. Yukina was hilariously serious during this match, it was clear she did not want to get shown up by the person with legitimate martial arts experience, so of course she won by taking two points away from Yuri and submitting her with an armbar. Classic competitive Yukina.

In the other UWF bout, standout rookie Anri made her UWF debut against Chii Aoba, who had already participated in several UWF matches before. Well, I got what I paid for, so to speak, as there was a moment when Anri took the full mount and then just slapped Chii around the face. Anri won with the rear naked choke in under seven minutes. This was a fun UWF debut and worth checking out if you’re an Anri fan.

In the opener, rookie Mugi Kakuhen teamed up with ace and double champion Nagisa Shiotsuki against Mari and fellow rookie Saya Matsuzaki. It was a fun opener but there was still some hesitation from the rookies, obviously, since they are only a few matches into their careers.

There was an ACTRing spinoff battle royal too. ACTRing is AWG’s theatre division. This was essentially members of the AWG roster playing their ACTRing characters in a theatre performance. I don’t watch every ACTRing show so apologies if some of these are actually new characters. Please let us know in the Discord! (Don’t.)

13th June 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Anri & Erisa Nagai vs. Kana Yufuku & Marino Nishimura

© AWG

The main news coming out of this show was Rico Fukunaga, the former AWG Champion as of 2 months ago, announcing her retirement, due to take place on 14th August. See the round-up for more details. On this show, Rico faced Chii Aoba in what I think is the first UWF Rules match on an AWG Step show. It was an enjoyable one. Rico looked vicious with her kicks, landing some particularly stiff strikes throughout, while Chii Aoba is a good shoot wrestler, with a great single leg takedown from Chii leading to Rico losing a point.

The other big news was that Polaris (Anri & Erisa Nagai) finally captured the #1 Contendership for the AWG Tag Team Title by defeating Actwres 5 Pink & Yellow (Kana Yufuku & Marino Nishimura). This is exactly what I have been calling for, for quite some time. I think, with Midsummer Breeze no longer a thing following Natsuki’s retirement, Polaris are the best team in the company alongside the champions Harahara Red (Marino Nishimura & Yukina Uehara). Not only that, but Anri and Yukina have an in-built feud where they are racing to the top of the promotion, having both received AWG Title shots (and failed) early in their careers. They made that promise after having an absolutely amazing singles match against each other last year, so ever since then I have been hoping they would cross paths again in a title match, and here we are. Anri is catching back up to Yukina after Yukina showed remarkable growth while Anri was on the injury list for four months at the turn of the year. Anri was somewhat unhinged here in the best possible way, working over Kana’s arm with viciousness throughout, stomping on it while it was locked up in the ropes, landing stiff forearms, repeatedly dropkicking it, and at one point landing a stun gun on the arm. How cool is that? Anri was the clear standout of the match. Kana and Marino were good too, though it is worth noting they are only 6-month rookies, which makes Marino’s ability to pull off things like Sliced Bread this early in her career all the more impressive. The post-match promos were awesome in their own right. Content-wise, Anri’s was fairly standard, covering her four-month injury holding Erisa back, Marino Saihara having turned down her challenge at the time due to her lack of wins, and the role of the fans in getting them to where they are now, but the delivery was captivating. Anri has such a magnetic charisma where you just want to scream your head off supporting her. She is a future star if she ever wants to be (we never know how these actresses turn out, sudden retirements and all that). Then Kana stepped up and delivered her entire promo without a microphone while sobbing, which was incredible. She has so much energy, confirmed when meeting her in person. Marino followed, quieter but natural and confident. These are six-month rookies excelling at post-match promos, and it makes a strong argument for how compelling recruiting from an acting background can be.

In the opener, Rio pinned Sakura Mizushima. The finish was so good. Sakura was doing a crossbody, but Rio caught her and then dropped her onto the mat before smothering her for a three-count. They actually called it the “REVERSAL BELLY CHOKE PRESS” – yes, in all capital letters. The entire Actwres 5 unit needed to get Rio off of Sakura before she suffocated. This was a huge win for rookie Rio. She was booked to face double champion and ace Nagisa Shiotsuki the week after, so after pinning Sakura, she pleaded to AWG Representative Sakaguchi to make the match for the KING Title, especially as she had just pinned former KING Champion Sakura Mizushima. She got her wish.

After Killer’Z (Hinata Senya & MARU) defeated Asako Army (Asako Mia & Yukina Uehara), MARU gave a rallying cry to Hinata and other KIller’Z, asking them to get frustrated about being beaten by their juniors, and in particular Hinata needs to put more effort in to surpass them because she has the talent. Hinata has not improved in the past year that I have watched her. Yukina said that Hinata is lucky to have a senior like MARU who can give her hard advice out of love. At that point, Yukina’s senior Asako agreed with MARU and then mentioned that even she has 3 wins out of 400 matches. She was corrected that she has 400 losses. She replied that she doesn’t have 400 losses, she has 400 matches where teammates provided inadequate assistance, and that her own record is spotless. This was really funny. Also, in the match there was a great spot where Yukina just blasted Hinata with a kick to the thigh and Hinata legitimately looked shocked. In the main event, Marino Saihara lost to Ayano Irie clean, which served as a backdrop for MARU’s rallying cry, it would be Ayano Irie leading from the front in Act and Mari’s absence, looking strong as she took down the leader of Actwres 5.

21st June 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Anri & Sakura Mizushima vs. Rico Fukunaga & Yukina Uehara

© AWG

The main news coming out of this show was Rico Fukunaga, the former AWG Champion as of 2 months ago, announcing her retirement, due to take place on 14th August. See the round-up for more details. On this show, Rico faced Chii Aoba in what I think is the first UWF Rules match on an AWG Step show. It was an enjoyable one. Rico looked vicious with her kicks, landing some particularly stiff strikes throughout, while Chii Aoba is a good shoot wrestler, with a great single leg takedown from Chii leading to Rico losing a point.

The other big news was that Polaris (Anri & Erisa Nagai) finally captured the #1 Contendership for the AWG Tag Team Title by defeating Actwres 5 Pink & Yellow (Kana Yufuku & Marino Nishimura). This is exactly what I have been calling for, for quite some time. I think, with Midsummer Breeze no longer a thing following Natsuki’s retirement, Polaris are the best team in the company alongside the champions Harahara Red (Marino Nishimura & Yukina Uehara). Not only that, but Anri and Yukina have an in-built feud where they are racing to the top of the promotion, having both received AWG Title shots (and failed) early in their careers. They made that promise after having an absolutely amazing singles match against each other last year, so ever since then I have been hoping they would cross paths again in a title match, and here we are. Anri is catching back up to Yukina after Yukina showed remarkable growth while Anri was on the injury list for four months at the turn of the year. Anri was somewhat unhinged here in the best possible way, working over Kana’s arm with viciousness throughout, stomping on it while it was locked up in the ropes, landing stiff forearms, repeatedly dropkicking it, and at one point landing a stun gun on the arm. How cool is that? Anri was the clear standout of the match. Kana and Marino were good too, though it is worth noting they are only 6-month rookies, which makes Marino’s ability to pull off things like Sliced Bread this early in her career all the more impressive. The post-match promos were awesome in their own right. Content-wise, Anri’s was fairly standard, covering her four-month injury holding Erisa back, Marino Saihara having turned down her challenge at the time due to her lack of wins, and the role of the fans in getting them to where they are now, but the delivery was captivating. Anri has such a magnetic charisma where you just want to scream your head off supporting her. She is a future star if she ever wants to be (we never know how these actresses turn out, sudden retirements and all that). Then Kana stepped up and delivered her entire promo without a microphone while sobbing, which was incredible. She has so much energy, confirmed when meeting her in person. Marino followed, quieter but natural and confident. These are six-month rookies excelling at post-match promos, and it makes a strong argument for how compelling recruiting from an acting background can be.

In the opener, Rio pinned Sakura Mizushima. The finish was so good. Sakura was doing a crossbody, but Rio caught her and then dropped her onto the mat before smothering her for a three-count. They actually called it the “REVERSAL BELLY CHOKE PRESS” – yes, in all capital letters. The entire Actwres 5 unit needed to get Rio off of Sakura before she suffocated. This was a huge win for rookie Rio. She was booked to face double champion and ace Nagisa Shiotsuki the week after, so after pinning Sakura, she pleaded to AWG Representative Sakaguchi to make the match for the KING Title, especially as she had just pinned former KING Champion Sakura Mizushima. She got her wish.

After Killer’Z (Hinata Senya & MARU) defeated Asako Army (Asako Mia & Yukina Uehara), MARU gave a rallying cry to Hinata and other KIller’Z, asking them to get frustrated about being beaten by their juniors, and in particular Hinata needs to put more effort in to surpass them because she has the talent. Hinata has not improved in the past year that I have watched her. Yukina said that Hinata is lucky to have a senior like MARU who can give her hard advice out of love. At that point, Yukina’s senior Asako agreed with MARU and then mentioned that even she has 3 wins out of 400 matches. She was corrected that she has 400 losses. She replied that she doesn’t have 400 losses, she has 400 matches where teammates provided inadequate assistance, and that her own record is spotless. This was really funny. Also, in the match there was a great spot where Yukina just blasted Hinata with a kick to the thigh and Hinata legitimately looked shocked. In the main event, Marino Saihara lost to Ayano Irie clean, which served as a backdrop for MARU’s rallying cry, it would be Ayano Irie leading from the front in Act and Mari’s absence, looking strong as she took down the leader of Actwres 5.

Haruka Ishikawa defeats Chii Aoba (5:53)

Ayano Irie & MARU defeat Mugi Kakuhen & Nanao Matsuhashi (13:49)

Nene Arahata & Rico Fukunaga defeat Kana Yafuku & Marino Nishimura (13:26)

AWG Tag Team Title Point:
Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara (c) defeat Anri & Erisa Nagai (17:59)

AWG KING Of Ring Entertainment Title:
Sakura Mizushima defeats Nagisa Shiotsuki (c) (13:39)

Minoru Fujita & Sayaka Obihiro defeat Shuji Ishikawa & Soy (10:14)
Chon Shiryu, Makoto & Sayaka defeat Antonio Honda, Kaho Hiromi & Tokiko Kirihara (9:50)
MIRAI defeats Chie Koishikawa (9:01)
Suzume defeats Miya Yotsuba (12:13)
Mei Suruga defeats Baliyan Akki (23:35)

25th June 2026
TOKYOSQUARE, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan

The main event was set up after Soy, who is also Miya’s tag partner, provoked the champion, saying she found it frustrating that she felt no vision or drive coming from Miya, and that she wanted to do more to promote the Super Asia Championship and raise its value. Neither character really does much for me, which affected my enjoyment of the match. Soy has had better big matches before, her outing against ZONES stands out as more intense, since that was more about blow to blow with ZONES with stiff lariats and strikes, which isn’t really the ChocoPro house style. Miya slightly missed her Miyahammer counter to Soy’s spear before following up with another Miyahammer for the win. There was also a slight issue in the sense that I never was pulled into the drama as there was no real chance of the title changing hands. Mei Suruga will face Miya next on 14th July, a teacher versus student rematch after Mei won their last meeting for the Super Asia Title almost exactly a year prior in July 2025. This would be a huge scalp if Miya wins the rematch.

Sayaka Obihiro, who previously pinned Asia Dream Tag Team Champion Chie Koishikawa, challenged on this show alongside her usual tag team partnerMinoru Fujita, with champions Chie and Sayaka defending for the first time. Their first defence was unsuccessful as Obihiro and Fujita became the new champions. While Sayaka and Chie are a top tier tag team, the chef gimmick Minoru and Obihiro have isn’t really to my taste, so while I still enjoyed the match, I was a little sad to see Sayaka and Chie lose the titles. As an aside, breaking up a pin by blasting a gong in the referee’s ear should not be legal. Kaori Yoneyama, dressed in her panda gimmick, and Choun Shiryu were announced afterwards as the next challengers, representing New Beijing Pro Wrestling.

Munetatsu Nakamura of Ganbare Pro Wrestling and Miles Karu, visiting Japan from Malaysia, took on Best Buds (Baliyan Akki & Chris Brookes). It was my first time seeing Miles Karu’s entrance, a Bruno Mars track that left Nakamura unsure what to do with himself, which was charming. Miles did well in this match, but Chris was good, Baliyan was good, and Munetatsu was very good. There was a kid in the crowd yelling Akki’s name every few seconds throughout. He was very popular on this show! Of course, Best Buds won.

Honori Hana of SEAdLINNNG made her ChocoPro debut here, facing Mei Suruga in their second encounter since the Sendai Girls’ Jaja Uma Tournament in 2020. Honori, the Beyond The Sea Tag Team Champion, and Mei, the DPW Women’s World Champion, both came into this match as champions. I went into this with no idea how their styles would mesh, and having watched it, I’m still not sure I do. It was a good match, but most of my interest going in was about seeing that clash play out, and having seen it, I don’t really have a strong opinion either way, which probably says more about my own expectations than the match itself. As ever with a Mei match, the layout was unpredictable with some super fun spots, this time featuring Honori sprinting in from the lobby to hit the apron at full speed, second match on the card. It remains a part of the lore that Honori’s head is immune to turnbuckle pads as she no-sold Mei’s usual spot, launching someone headfirst into the turnbuckle. At the end of the day, Mei was the winner.

The opener featured New Beijing Pro Wrestling’s Kung Fu Panda (Choun Shiryu & Kaori Yoneyama), with Kaho Hiromi entering keen to learn from her partner Tokiko Kirihara as well as from the Kung Fu Pandas across the ring. A short match, but Kaho stood out for me.